UPDATE, 5:12 p.m.:

The suspect in yesterday’s double homicide, Russell Albers, was the driver of the truck and has been booked into the county correctional facility. See post here.

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Original post:

We’re not yet 100 percent certain about what it’s all about, but there was a crazy police chase on Highway 101 north from McKinleyville to somewhere near Big Lagoon this afternoon.

The last thing to come over the scanner is that the California Highway Patrol had one person at gunpoint near Kane Road, and that person is now in custody. The Sheriff’s Office has requested a major crimes unit to respond to their location. Traffic on 101 is impaired at the moment.

As should be evident in the picture above, it was a crazy pursuit. Friend of the LoCO Bob Pagliuco said he came across it as it was near Patrick’s Point. He saw a cop do a U-turn and attempt to block the highway just as the suspect neared. The suspect — still in the wrong lanes of traffic — instead veered around them and continued north.

We’ll update when we know more, obviously.

UPDATE, 5 p.m.:

Albers has been arrested. See post here.

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PREVIOUSLY: HCSO: Two Killed, Two Injured in Pine Hill Shooting Early This Morning; Suspect Still at Large

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With the suspect in yesterday’s double murder in the Pine Hill neighborhood still at large, St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka has limited public access “out of an abundance of caution,” spokesperson Christian Hill said in an email.

Albers

Forty-one-year-old Russell Martin Albers remains on the loose after he allegedly shot and killed the parents of a 4-year-old shortly after midnight Tuesday. Albers allegedly injured two others, including a female gunshot victim who he subsequently dropped off at the hospital where she underwent surgery, according to a press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. 

The child, whose screams could be heard in the background of a 911 call, was uninjured and has been turned over to Child Welfare Services.

In light of the shooting, access to St. Joseph Hospital has been limited to “select entrances,” Hill’s email says.

“We are actively monitoring the situation and are in direct communication with law enforcement,” the statement continues. “Our caregivers’ and patients’ safety and peace of mind is our highest priority. We have safety measures in place that ensure our caregivers can deliver, and patients can receive, safe, high-quality care. Visitors are allowed per our current visitation policy.”

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has asked any members of the public who spot Albers to call 911. Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the office at (707) 445-7251 or their crime tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Press release from the city of Rio Dell:

The boil water advisory for Rio Dell has been lifted as of 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 28. Residents in the city’s water district are advised that they may safely drink city water at this point.

“If your water pressure is low, please clean the screens on your faucets,” says Randy Jensen, Rio Dell water superintendent. “Everybody should have water except red tagged houses. If your water is turbid, flush it through an exterior hose bib until it’s clear. If you have no water, check your water shut off on the street as many volunteers turned off waters to homes immediately after the earthquake.”

Jensen added that addressing water leaks on city streets are a priority at this time and that if anyone notices this issue they should call Rio Dell City Hall at 707-764-3532.

Rio Dell City Manager Kyle Knopp adds that the city would like to hear from anyone in the city who is having trouble getting in touch with their landlords regarding repairs to rented dwellings.

A local assistance center is tentatively scheduled for this Friday, Dec. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 31 at Monument Middle School. The center will include resources to help residents who have been displaced by the earthquake. As of Dec. 28, 25 homes have been red tagged as uninhabitable and 69 have been yellow-tagged, meaning they need minor repairs. Knopp encourages residents to stay tuned to information from the California and Humboldt County Offices of Emergency Services.

The Rio Dell Chamber of Commerce and Rio Dell Community Resource Center have offered to step in to facilitate donation and distribution of resources later this week from their location at 406 Wildwood Avenue. The city is asking at this time that anyone interested in donating items please refer to the Pay It Forward Humboldt Facebook page, which has a current list of requested items. Please do not bring items that are not requested to the donation center, as this can create a secondary emergency of sorting through donations and disposing of them.

The city is also asking anyone who volunteered during the emergency, whether their service was small or large, to please fill out an ICS-214 form documenting their volunteer time. This documentation will help the city as it works with state agencies for disaster assistance funding. Forms are available at the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department and at Rio Dell City Hall, or online at the City’s Website cityofriodell.ca.gov.

“Rio Dell and other members of the greater community stepped up out of a love of community with no anticipation of reward,” says City Manager Kyle Knopp. “Nevertheless it is essential that we record and document all volunteer hours spent in the community. We ask everyone to do this as another act of service to the community.”

“The city would like to thank the many organizations, individuals and agencies who selflessly stepped to offer help and services,” says Mayor Debra Garnes. “Rio Dell is a community of neighbors who help neighbors, but we are also part of a wider community that takes care of one another in times of great need.  In many ways we are still learning the full extent of this disaster’s impact on our small town, and we know that there is much more work to be done.”

A Go Fund Me campaign to assist families affected by the Dec. 20 earthquake has been established by the Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department. More information is available at https://gofund.me/3036e4ec. The Humboldt Area Foundation is also awarding grants to agencies aiding in relief efforts and accepting donations to their Disaster Response and Resilience Fund. More information is available at https://www.hafoundation.org/Giving/DisasterFund. 

UPDATE, 10:42 a.m.:

A “Rio Dell Alert” just dropped in our email inbox: 

Boil Water Notice is now lifted. Water is safe to consume. Please clean faucet screens.

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Original post:

Press release from the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services:

Emergency sheltering and supply distribution continues for those impacted by the Dec. 20 earthquake.

RED CROSS OVERNIGHT SHELTER

The Red Cross Overnight Shelter located at the Fortuna Firemen’s Pavilion, 9 Park Street, Fortuna, CA, is open to community members displaced from the earthquake. Services provided include temporary overnight sheltering, cots and blankets, hygiene kits, snacks and full meals for overnight guests, water, charging stations and small animal sheltering.

Additionally, the Red Cross is available to connect community members impacted by the earthquake with a variety of other services to aid in the recovery process. To learn more, contact 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800- 733-2767).

RIO DELL SUPPLY DISTRIBUTION CENTER

Water can be picked up at Monument Middle School, 95 Center Street, Rio Dell, CA. This distribution site will be open from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. through Wednesday, Dec. 28. at which time the need for further operation will be assessed. Hot meals will be provided to community members impacted by the earthquake at this site from noon to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 28. 

The distribution of non-perishable food items has been moved to the Rio Dell Community Resource Center, located at 406 Wildwood Avenue, Rio Dell, CA. This distribution location will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

Portable showers will be available on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at the Rio Dell Fire Hall, 50 Center Street, Rio Dell, CA, from noon to 4 p.m.

CLEANUP ASSISTANCE

The American Red Cross has distributed 198 clean up kits to the impacted communities.

Rio Dell residents may utilize the two dumpsters located outside of Rio Dell City Hall, at 675 Wildwood Avenue, to dispose of earthquake debris. Please do not dispose of hazardous waste in these receptacles. Hazardous items not fit for disposal in these receptacles include leftover household products that can catch fire, react, or explode under certain circumstances, or that are corrosive or toxic as household hazardous waste. Products, such as paints, cleaners, oils, batteries, and pesticides can contain hazardous ingredients and require special care when you dispose of them. More information regarding hazardous waste disposal can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/hw/household-hazardous-waste-hhw.

Residents outside of Rio Dell with remaining excess earthquake-related debris should contact their local sanitation provider.

FOOD REPLACEMENT SERVICES

CalFresh recipients who have lost food due to the power outage or earthquake can request replacement benefits by filling out a CF 303 form on the state’s website here, by logging on to their account at Benefitscal.com, visiting the DHHS Social Services Emergency Benefit Replacement web page, or stopping by one of DHHS’s offices.
Additional food assistance programs are available through Food for People. To find a distribution location near you, visit: https://www.foodforpeople.org/need-food.

WATER SAFETY

The city of Rio Dell remains under a Boil Water Advisory. If you have water, boil it for at least one minute or use bottled water for drinking and food preparation until further notice. Water is safe for bathing and non-consumption activities. For more information about boiling water and its uses, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/dwa-comm-toolbox/before/tools/What-to-Do-During-a-Boil-Water-Advisory.docx

BUSINESS SUPPORT

Local businesses impacted by the earthquake are asked to complete a Business Recovery Survey created by the County’s Economic Development Department, GoHumCo. This survey will be used to track, monitor and quantify business losses in Humboldt County following the earthquake.Losses will be totaled and shared with federal and state agencies as we seek outside support for our community. The survey may be accessed here: humboldtgov.org/recoverySurvey
For more business support resources visit: https://www.gohumco.com/379/Economic-Earthquake-Recovery-Response.

DONATIONS

Financial donations to assist with the response can be made directly to the following:

• Rio Dell Fire Department- Venmo: @RioDellFire-Department, GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/3036e4ec,  or mailed to 50 W Center St. Rio Dell, CA 95562
• Pay it Forward Humboldt: 707-616-9191, payitforwardhumboldt@gmail.com
• American Red Cross: 1-800-435-7669, redcross.org

STAY INFORMED

The most important thing you can do while the community recovers is to keep informed.

• Sign up to receive Humboldt County Emergency Alerts at: humboldtgov.org/alerts
• Subscribe to OES news releases at: humboldtsheriff.org/subscribe

For updated information regarding the Humboldt County earthquake response, please go to humboldtsheriff.org/emergency and visit @HumCoOES on Facebook and Twitter.

The Supreme Court’s latest move allows a short-term reprieve to an anticipated increase in asylum seekers trying to cross from Mexico into California and other states, but recent confusion at the border is a preview of what may soon come should a pandemic-era measure known as Title 42 be lifted in 2023.

The situation, and its use as a political backdrop, has prompted local officials to ask what state resources will be available next year with California facing a potential budget shortfall and the possibility that Title 42 will end.

Title 42 is a Trump-era immigration policy that has continued under President Joe Biden. It allows border agents to rapidly expel migrants at official ports of entry during public health emergencies. The policy has resulted in the expulsion of tens of thousands of people seeking asylum and has discouraged many others from crossing the border.

The policy states that if the U.S. surgeon general determines there is a communicable disease in another country, health officials have the authority, with the approval of the president, to prohibit “the introduction of persons and property from such countries or places” for as long as health officials determine that action is necessary.

The measure had been set to lift last week by order of a federal court, which would have allowed many asylum-seekers waiting in limbo at the border to go ahead and cross into the United States. Some experts say that because smugglers in Mexico use any shift in U.S. immigration policy to exploit migrants, mere conversation about the possibility of lifting Title 42 triggered even more people to try to cross into the U.S. in recent weeks.

The Supreme Court’s brief order Tuesday stayed — meaning delayed — the trial judge’s ruling that would have lifted Title 42 until the high court hears arguments in the case in February. The political and legal ping-pong in the case is hard enough for U.S. audiences to follow, making it nearly impossible to explain south of the border.

The Supreme Court’s order is a response to a request filed by 19 Republican-led states that they be heard in the case. It does not overrule the lower court’s decision that Title 42 is illegal; it merely leaves the measure in place while the legal challenges play out in court.

The federal court order that was supposed to lift Title 42 came as a result of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of asylum-seeking families. Asylum is a protection codified in international law for foreign nationals who meet the legal definition of “refugee.” The United Nations 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol define refugees as people unable or unwilling to return to their home country, and who cannot obtain protection in that country, due to past persecution or a well-founded fear of being persecuted in the future “on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” Congress incorporated this definition into U.S. immigration law in the Refugee Act of 1980.

For those stuck in Mexico because of Title 42, waiting can be perilous. Human Rights First has documented more than 13,000 attacks on asylum seekers waiting in Mexico during the Biden administration.

Because it takes time for news of shifts in U.S. immigration policy to reach areas in rural Mexico and Central America, the numbers of migrants arriving in Tijuana and San Diego this week in anticipation of the end of Title 42 could be elevated right now — and it may take some time before those numbers drop-off as news travels, experts said. Migration numbers typically increase through the first half of the year before dropping off in the summer.

San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson, a former Republican state senator, was among a group of political leaders who recently complained that the state and federal governments have not provided the funds local leaders have requested to handle the expected influx of asylum seekers and other migrants.

“We’re not even talking about whether these are good policies or not,” he said. “But whatever the policy is, we become the targets of it. We’re willing to step up, but they have to step up, too, by giving us the resources we need to deal with it.”

He joined several local Republican and Democratic leaders in San Diego in urging in letters and news conferences that the state and the feds should provide more support ahead of the expected end of Title 42.

Local officials pointed to needing more funding for schools, hospitals, and police services, among other resources, if Title 42 eventually lifts. The near constant legal back-and-forth has also provided a convenient conversation starter for politicians wanting to debate larger immigration policy issues.

“With the state budget projecting a $25 billion deficit, I’d like to know what the plan is for our schools and to help lift all of our students,” said Andrew Hayes, board president of the Lakeside school district in rural eastern San Diego. Hayes said increases in immigration causes strains to the local educational systems because students fleeing persecution in other countries often have increased mental health needs and sometimes require special instruction.

San Diego County Supervisors Nathan Fletcher and Supervisor Nora Vargas, both Democrats, wrote to Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. homeland security secretary, on Dec. 19, also requesting federal resources and “a comprehensive plan to ensure humane entry into the United States for those seeking asylum into our country.”

“When Title 42 is lifted, we will need additional resources and personnel on the ground to process and arrange for the onward travel of asylum seekers to their final destination,” they wrote. ”We will also need the federal government to set up temporary shelters on federal property to ensure access to needed social and health services. Our hospitals, our public health department, our social services, and our homeless service providers are already at maximum capacity serving vulnerable residents in San Diego.”

El Cajon, not “the governor’s neighborhood”

Title 42 policy’s end “will likely increase” migration flows, the Department of Homeland Security officially said last week.

The burden will unfairly fall on a few border cities, Anderson said.

“They’re not talking about releasing people into Sacramento or putting people in the governor’s neighborhood,” said Anderson. “No, they’re talking about releasing people right here in El Cajon, where the median household income is just over $58,000 per year.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office responded that the state has done what it can to support local jurisdictions.

“While the federal government is responsible for immigration, California has invested more than any other state to ensure the safety and dignity of asylum seekers. Roughly $1 billion has been invested to provide critical services to migrants, including medical screenings, vaccinations, temporary shelter, food, clothes, and other aid. However, with looming budget deficits, the state cannot continue to fund these efforts at scale without significant support from Congress,” said Daniel Lopez, the deputy communications director for Newsom.

“The state has advocated for additional resources to help communities like San Diego provide services to recently arrived migrants,” Lopez added.

Anderson wrote to Gov. Gavin Newsom Dec 14 complaining that a plan that San Diego County officials proposed to the state was rejected. Though he declined to discuss the plan’s specifics, he said it included opening a temporary emergency shelter, providing food, clothing, healthcare and wrap-around services.

“It is irresponsible to ask the City of El Cajon to shoulder the burden and costs necessary to address the needs of these individuals without assistance from the State and federal government,” wrote Anderson in the letter.

For his part, Newsom has been complaining of a lack of federal support for asylum seekers and immigrants.

Newsom said earlier this month that, because of the federal government’s lackluster support, the state has had to spend nearly $1 billion in the last three years, working with nonprofits to provide immigrants released from federal detention with health screenings, temporary shelter and help connecting with sponsors. The immigrants had been held at nine facilities in Imperial, San Diego and Riverside counties.

“With the respect to the federal government, we’ve been doing their job for the last few years at scale,” Newsom said. “But we cannot continue to absorb that responsibility.”

The state Legislative Analyst’s Office recently said in its annual forecast that Newsom and the Democratic Party-controlled Legislature are facing a $24 billion projected budget deficit for the next fiscal year.

If the state enters a recession the outlook is even worse, with revenues predicted to fall short by $30 billion to $50 billion. The governor signed a record-breaking $308 billion budget in June.

Advocates say that while migrants sometimes require services when they first enter the country, research shows they ultimately contribute to the larger economy. In California undocumented immigrants collectively pay $3.1 billion a year in state and local taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Meanwhile, some migrants in Mexico last week expressed disappointment, concern and confusion about the delay in lifting Title 42.

Several people said they had left shelters with the expectation that the order would be released last week and now they had no place to go.

However, the scene outside El Chaparral, a pedestrian border crossing between San Ysidro and Tijuana that has been closed since the pandemic began, looked far different than images coming out of Texas. There, members of the National Guard, armed with rifles, have put up razor wire and are blocking migrants from entering the United States.

Waiting patiently, but getting desperate

Here in Baja California, just south of San Diego, migrants wearing masks stood patiently in lines last week waiting for services or to receive news about any policy changes that may impact their ability to cross the border. The flow of people in the area was orderly, mirroring any other normal mid-week day during the lunch hour.

A migrant from Michoacán said being out on the streets in Tijuana was extremely uncomfortable for his wife, who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. He asked not to be named because people in Tijuana were looking for him, putting him in danger.

“We haven’t been able to receive any help from anywhere,” he said. “We’re getting desperate.”

Anderson said that the county was willing to welcome asylum seekers “with open arms,” but it needs more funds to do it.

“Even if it’s only 10 more people coming in, that’s 10 people too many without additional funding because we already have so many people living on our streets needing services,” he said.

Newsom toured a state-funded migrant center that provides services to asylum seekers near the Imperial County border with Mexico on Dec. 12. There the governor criticized Republicans in Congress for politicizing immigration while failing to support comprehensive reforms.

The Department of Homeland Security said it plans to boost resources at the border, “increasing processing efficiency, imposing consequences for unlawful entry, bolstering nonprofit capacity, targeting smugglers and working with international partners,” a DHS spokesperson said Thursday.

If Title 42 is ultimately lifted, the process for processing migrants at the border would return to the way it was before the start of the pandemic.

Asylum seekers who don’t have prior permission to be in the country would have to pass what’s called a “credible fear” test. They would have to prove to a processing agent or asylum officer that they have a well-founded fear that if they are deported home, they would face persecution.

After that test, migrants would either be removed from the country, detained in immigration custody or released into the U.S. to wait while their asylum cases make their way through immigration court – a process that can take years.

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

When a sexual assault survivor walks into Alexandra Fulcher’s office at Occidental College, it’s the first step in a process fraught with consequences for both the survivor and the accused.

If Fulcher, the school’s Title IX director, launches an official investigation, the survivor could be asked to recount their trauma and cross-examined about it in a live hearing. Their alleged assaulter could be expelled.

But for the past year, survivors at Occidental have had another option. They can participate in a restorative justice conference with the person who harmed them, in which that person hears about the impact of their actions, takes responsibility and commits to a plan to help repair the harm — and prevent it from happening again.

The conferences draw on a long tradition of restorative justice, a philosophy that eschews punishment in favor of coming up with collective solutions to address violence and harm within a community.

A handful of California colleges have recently begun using restorative justice in cases of sexual assault and harassment, or are seriously considering it. And Fulcher said it’s a path that an increasing number of survivors at Occidental are choosing.

“This age group, at least at Oxy, is less interested in punitive options,” she said.

One argument for making restorative justice available is that it may encourage more survivors to come forward. An overwhelming majority of survivors of campus sexual violence never file a report, and of those that do, few choose to pursue disciplinary action, said David Karp, director of the Center for Restorative Justice at the University of San Diego.

“This age group is less interested in punitive options.”
— Alexandra Fulcher, Title IX coordinator, Occidental College

Title IX rules passed under the Trump administration made the formal complaint process less attractive for sexual assault survivors by requiring that they be cross-examined in live hearings, while at the same time giving schools more flexibility to pursue informal resolutions, Karp said. (The Biden administration has proposed new rules that would give colleges flexibility in whether to require cross-examination.)

Both of those changes helped spur interest in restorative justice, he said – including at his own campus, which is currently in its first year of offering restorative justice for Title IX cases.

“It seems pretty clear that there’s student demand and that Title IX administrators are really dissatisfied with the current options and would like to see the options expand,” he said. “There’s some legitimate worry about bad implementation or retraumatization and reasons why we should be careful.”

A sexual harassment scandal at California State University this year that led to the resignation of the university’s chancellor and numerous reports of campus administrators mishandling Title IX cases has focused attention on how California colleges resolve such cases. The federal civil rights law, which turned 50 this year, protects students from sex-based discrimination in schools, including sexual violence. Meanwhile, an influential committee of lawmakers and judges earlier this month recommended that the state give all crime victims the right to participate in restorative justice programs.

Preparing a successful restorative justice conference — also known as a restorative justice circle — can take months, said René Rivera, a facilitator for the Ahimsa Collective, a non-profit that conducts them for Occidental students.

First, both parties must agree to participate. The facilitators meet separately with both parties, making sure they have support systems in place – therapists, friends, family. The survivor decides what they want the outcome of the circle to be, and the person who acknowledges causing harm starts to face up to what they’ve done. The accused is often asked to write a letter to the survivor, which may never be read to them, but can help the accused sort out their own feelings and take accountability before addressing the survivor face-to-face.

“It can take a long time to get to a place where everyone feels ready to meet each other and listen to each other,” said Rivera. “We as facilitators need to feel confident that there will not be more harm in bringing these two people together.”

The circle, which usually lasts several hours, is not over until the accused has made an apology and the survivor is able to ask any questions of the accused. The person who’s caused the harm then takes the steps the survivor has requested, which could include things like getting therapy, or quitting an extracurricular activity so the survivor doesn’t have to run into them on campus.

Nationally, Rutgers University in New Jersey has been using restorative justice since 2016 — first to treat less-serious incidents such as alcohol violations and later in Title IX cases. Amy Miele, the university’s associate director of student affairs, compliance and Title IX, vividly remembers the first restorative justice conference she organized in a sexual assault case.

The student who had been assaulted chose restorative justice because “she did not want another man of color with a disciplinary record,” Miele said. “She said, ‘I want healing and justice and to be able to move on from this, I have a lot of questions I want answered, and I don’t feel comfortable going up to him on my own.’ ”

The parties met in a conference room, Miele said, sitting around a table stocked with water bottles, tissues, drawing paper, pens, and snacks. But within a couple minutes, both students erupted with rage as the accused person grappled with the reality of what he had done, and the harmed person confronted her assaulter for the first time.

Miele and her team took a pause, allowing both students to calm down and giving them stress balls and water bottles to hold for the rest of the conference. Returning to the circle relaxed and prepared, the accused did something no one was expecting — he said, “I’m signing”, apologized and accepted full responsibility for his actions.

“In that moment when he looked them in the eyes and said, ‘I’m sorry,’ it was as if we could all breathe again, like the fog lifted,” Miele said. The survivor told Miele the process had restored her faith in humanity, Miele said.

Evidence of success

While there’s little data available about the effectiveness of restorative justice in preventing future sexual assaults, some studies of youth convicted of other crimes have shown that those who participate in restorative justice conferences are less likely to be rearrested.

In a survey gauging Rutgers’ students’ satisfaction with the restorative justice process, one student accused of assault said, “The explorations of mine and (survivor’s) perspectives was done very well. I was shocked at times to hear things I had never even thought of.”

The conference “showed me a game plan that I could follow to alleviate the harm done to (Complainant) and to better myself,” another wrote.

Besides having the potential to increase reporting of sexual assaults, restorative justice is also a rejection of a racist criminal justice system in favor of something more equitable, said Domale Dube Keys, a former lecturer at the University of California Los Angeles who wrote a paper recommending that colleges offer restorative justice in Title IX cases.

“A restorative justice approach really is a way of recognizing that if we keep on this track of, ‘We need to police, we need to do this law and order approach to sexual violence,’ it’s people of color and gender non-conforming people that are going to suffer,” said Keys. “They are going to have less resources to go the legal route, less public support when it comes to believing their stories. It’s a way of recognizing that our system is flawed.”

Some indigenous tribes have been practicing forms of restorative justice for generations. So when professors on Cal Poly Humboldt’s sexual assault prevention committee were considering using restorative justice for sexual misconduct, they took inspiration from the local Yurok tribe, whose members had experience using the practice to heal after domestic violence.

“In our community, the connections between us are so thick, when something bad happens to one of us, we all experience it in some way,” Blythe George, a Yurok tribal member and sociology professor at UC Merced, said in a presentation at Cal Poly Humboldt in April.

When a tribal member is banished, she said, “their songs go with them, the teachings that their parents and grandparents took the time to teach them… and that’s why it’s so important for us to have this restorative justice component, because we are actively reclaiming our people from a system that has done nothing but try to take us or kill us for the better part of centuries now.”

Fair to survivors?

But critics of using restorative justice for campus sexual assault cases say that the power dynamics are different.

“What makes restorative justice work is that it’s addressing a deep systemic and historical prejudice that a lot of wrongdoings happen because of systemic oppression,” said Gabi Jeakle, a student at Loyola Marymount University who has worked to improve the university’s Title IX resources and is herself a survivor. But statistically speaking, she said, much sexual assault happens at the hands of historically privileged people. “It’s oftentimes white men in fraternities harming women. It’s important to look at that context and say that’s not the same argument as someone who has been a victim of the school to prison pipeline.”

Jeakle acknowledged that for the colleges that are trying this, survivors get to choose whether to pursue restorative justice or a traditional investigation. But when you’ve recently undergone trauma, she said, “it can be difficult to know what you need.”

Federal law bars restorative justice in cases where a professor has assaulted or harassed a student. And potential power differentials between survivor and accused have also surfaced as an issue at Cal Poly Humboldt, where Maxwell Schnurer, a communications professor who chairs the university’s sexual assault prevention committee, said he’s concerned that restorative justice could lead to a “survivor being asked to take care of someone who had harmed them.”

Committee members have received training in restorative justice but said they haven’t yet decided whether it could work on their campus.

“You don’t want to forgive the entire institution because one individual apologizes.”
— Gabi Jeakle, student and sexual assault survivor, Loyola Marymount University

At UC Berkeley, restorative justice advocates were developing a separate pathway for handling cases outside the university’s Title IX office, said Julie Shackford-Bradley, director of the university’s Restorative Justice Center.

But they soon ran into a pitfall: A key tenet of restorative justice conferences is confidentiality. But most university employees – including those who would be running the conferences – are mandatory reporters, meaning that by law, they must tell the Title IX coordinator if they hear of any sexual harassment or assault happening on campus.

The center ended up scrapping the plan, Shackford-Bradley said, at least until the legal issues can be resolved.

Mandatory reporting has not been an issue at Occidental, said Fulcher, since any cases that are referred to the Ahimsa Collective have already been reported to the university’s Title IX office.

“In terms of the parties’ satisfaction with the (restorative justice) process, it is leaps and bounds more than our typical investigation and hearing process,” Fulcher said – in part because restorative justice gives both survivor and respondent more control over the outcome.

Rivera, the facilitator, said that Occidental’s experiment with restorative justice shows that “there’s an alternative (to punishment) and the alternative is to have a conversation that is actually as healing possible for both parties, and where the person who has caused the harm is gonna be treated as a full human being in that process.”

“That’s something that personally gives me a lot of hope. If we can do that on college campuses, it feels so much more possible to start to have those kinds of alternatives in other areas.”

Even at California campuses where restorative justice conferences aren’t taking place, advocates for survivors are going beyond traditional Title IX investigations, finding ways to redress harm, involve the community and prevent future assaults.

UC Berkeley offers survivor circles, in which students can share their stories and build community with other sexual assault survivors.

And at Loyola Marymount, Jeakle is getting fraternities to contribute to a fund that supports survivors of sexual assault who need help with travel and medical expenses.

“You don’t want to forgive the entire institution because one individual apologizes,” she said. “Asking people to be part of a cultural shift is more important.”

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Taylor is a fellow with the CalMatters College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. Mello is the network’s editor. This story and other higher education coverage are supported by the College Futures Foundation.

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

José “Joe” Gomes passed away on December 26, 2022 after 82 wonderful years.

He was born July 16, 1940 in Flores, Açores and raised by his parents José Coelho Gomes and Maria Rosario Gomes. When he was 20 years old he immigrated to the United States to Yuba City. In 1963 he moved to Arcata, working in the lumber industry. He worked as a forklift driver for 16 years for Louisiana Pacific.

In 1964 he met and married Alvarina Gonsalves, who he created a family with. After his retirement he dedicated his life to his grandkids by watching every sport they played, taking care of them after school and making sure they were all well fed. He enjoyed fishing, cruises with his wife and friends, traveling to see all the grandkids and being heavily involved in the Portuguese community. 

Joe is survived by his wife Alvarina Gomes, their four children Ed Gomes (Amber Gomes), Liz Boettner (Rich Boettner), Judy Smith (Sean Smith), and Rick Gomes, his grandchildren Ryan Gomes, Riley Gomes, Connor Smith, Bryce Gomes, Claire Smith, Audrey Gomes, and Alex Boettner. Joe is preceded in death by his parents, his brothers, Celestino Gomes and Ted Gomes, his sister, Maria Roy, and his nephew, David Gomes. Along with numerous friends that were a big part of his life.

Thank you to St. Joseph Hospital staff and Dr. Fellows for all of your help in Joe’s life. Rosary will be held Thursday, December 29, 2022 at 6 p.m. at Paul’s Chapel. Funeral will be held at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Arcata at 10 a.m. on December 30, 2022.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Joe Gomes’ loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.