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Press release from Food for People:

There are big transitions happening at Food for People with the completion of the new building and the upcoming retirement of longtime Executive Director Anne Holcomb and the hiring of Carly Robbins as the new ED!
 
Anne’s role as the Executive Director began in April of 2001 after moving from Maine to Humboldt to be closer to her adult children and expanding brood of grandchildren. She quickly decided to focus on creating the kind of community she wanted her grandkids to grow up in; one that ensures everyone has the food they need to grow, learn, and work with dignity.
 
That led to a 22-year career at Food for People and has included lots of listening and learning to help guide the organization’s efforts to develop creative programs and partnerships that best meet the needs of our diverse community. These have included programs like the Backpacks for Kids weekend hunger relief program; mobile pantry services that reach the far corners of our rural county; free produce markets that help people incorporate foods that support good health; an expanded network of food pantries for a more localized response; increased CalFresh outreach to provide households broader access to additional resources for food; and the ability to respond to natural disasters as quickly as possible.
 
“I would like to thank the staff and volunteers and the hundreds of partners both locally and statewide who have shared their resources, compassion and grace over the years in support of our friends and neighbors” says Holcomb.  “I have found such incredible inspiration from meeting so many people who have shared their stories of how Food for People helped them at a critical time, and how happy they are to be in a position to ‘pay it forward’ as volunteers and donors. This is the spirit that will keep Food for People strong and resilient into the future.”
 
After a comprehensive search by the Board of Directors, Carly Robbins has been hired to serve as the next Executive Director of the Food Bank.  Carly is not a stranger to the organization (nor the community, graduating from Eureka High!), serving as the Development Director for the past eight years. She has managed the fundraising and marketing efforts, while also spearheading the Capital Campaign for the new warehouse building that has grown way beyond the initial goals. 
 
“As I quickly learned, when I started eight years ago, even among other food banks, Food for People is unique, and I would say, exceptional. Many food banks function solely on a bulk level – collecting, inventorying, and storing food to be distributed to partner agencies. The direct distribution of food is typically done by others, but Food for People does it all. We do the typical food banking, providing food to our network of hard-working food pantries and partners, and we also provide direct service with our staff offering one-on-one connections with people, listening to their stories and offering a warm smile with dignity and respect.” 
 
Over the last several years the economic challenges caused by the pandemic, supply chain issues, and rising inflation have caused record numbers of people to seek Food for People’s services. The organization has grown, expanded, and weathered these unique challenges. And the food bank is now entering another stage as they work to address this continuing rise in food insecurity while also settling into a brand-new facility. Please stop by Food for People’s new location at 307 W 14th Street on Sunday, June 25th between 1 PM to 5 PM as they open their doors for public tours of the new warehouse facility.

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Ten months after a an inflammatory Planning Commission hearing regarding permits for Travis Schneider’s dream home, the Planning Commission is set to meet again — this time, to remove permission for construction of the 8,000-square-foot home that was supposed to be built there.

To briefly recap the controversy the unfolded from that August 2022 meeting, Schneider, a local developer and owner of Eureka-based civil engineering firm Pacific Affiliates, found himself in hot water after violating multiple terms of a Coastal Development Permit for a massive house on Walker Point Road, north of Eureka. 

County planning staff issued a stop-work order in December 2021 after learning that Schneider had:

• constructed an un-permitted access road through environmentally sensitive habitat,
• used a CAT 310 excavator to clear blackberry brambles and other foliage from the property, potentially damaging tribal cultural resources, and
• misaligned the home’s footprint, causing it to be within 100 feet of a designated wetland.

Subsequent investigations revealed more problems: The home Schneider had partially built was more than two and a half times larger than the permit allowed, measuring a whopping 20,817 feet. He had also started construction without a building permit and failed to get a required septic permit for the development. 

A related controversy erupted over former Planning Commissioner Alan Bongio’s racist comments at that August hearing, comments for which he later sort of apologized, though he was still censured by the Board of Supervisors, who requested that he step down from his position as chair. Bongio resigned in December.

Schneider attempted to finesse his way through the controversy despite conflicts with local tribes, warnings from the California Coastal Commission and increased public scrutiny over the entire permitting process.

Finally, in a twist first reported by Thadeus Greenson of the North Coast Journal, Schneider agreed through his attorney to tear down his partially built home as he faced fines of $40,000 per day for the assorted permit violations he’d accumulated.

He also agreed to remove the 15,000 cubic yards of fill soil he’d hauled onto the property, an amount nearly 10 times what was allowed under his coastal development permit. And he agreed to mitigate any impacts to environmentally sensitive habitat areas and wetland habitats onsite and to construct a fence to protect the archeological site on the property.

At the upcoming July 6 meeting, the Humboldt County Planning Commission will consider modifying Schneider’s Coastal Development Permit to facilitate these actions. According to a public notice issued last week, the permit modifications would remove an entitlement to build an 8,000-square-foot home, plus an attached 1,000 square foot cellar and a four car garage.

It would also remove permission for 1,500 cubic yards of grading and grant permission to tear down and remove the 21,000 square foot structure that’s still partially built on the property.

Attempts to reach Schneider by phone and email were not returned.

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PREVIOUSLY:

• Heated Meeting Sparks Accusations of Dishonesty and Discrimination, Opening Rift Between Tribes and Humboldt County Planning Commission
• Despite Silence From Tribes, Mega-Home Builder Optimistic Ahead of Tonight’s Continued Planning Commission Hearing to Address Permit Violation Fallout
• After Rebukes and Apologies for Bongio’s ‘Disrespectful’ Comments, Planning Commission Defers Decision on Mega-Home Permits
• County Supes to Consider Censure of Planning Commission Chair Alan Bongio for Inappropriate Conduct
• Bohn Makes the Motion, Supes Unanimously Censure Bongio for Racist Remarks, Move to Remove Him as Chair of Planning Commission
• A Tour Through the Half-Built Dream Mansion of Travis Schneider, Who Remains Hopeful Amid Mounting Permit Problems
• Alan Bongio, Embattled Humboldt County Planning Commissioner, Resigns

ELSEWHERE:

• Developer Agrees to Tear Down Controversial Home, Faces Daily $40K Fines (NCJ)

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Press release from the City of Arcata:

The City of Arcata Transportation Division is excited to announce that the Arcata and Mad River Transit System (A&MRTS) free bus rides have been extended through July!

The City encourages Arcata residents and visitors to take the bus to run errands and to explore Arcata’s neighborhoods, businesses, parks and recreational spaces. The goal of this program is to increase ridership for A&MRTS by showing how easy it is to use the transit system. A summer month was selected for this program as historically the ridership is low in summer months because schools, including Cal Poly Humboldt, are not in session. Last year, there was an approximately 10% increase in ridership during the implementation of this program in June and July of financial year (FY) 21-22 compared to FY 20-21. The division is excited about increasing that percentage in FY 22-23. Funding to support this program comes from the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP).

Free bus rides in Arcata began on June 1 and have now been extended through Monday, July 31 with A&MRTS offering transit routes that run Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the summer months.

For more information regarding bus routes and schedules, visit hta.org/agencies/arcata-and-mad-river/ or call (707) 822-3775.

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In just the second year of the California State Fair’s annual cannabis competition, growers from Humboldt County nabbed a total of 18 awards, including three of the 11 Golden Bear trophies bestowed on the overall winners, aka the “Best of California.”

MOCA Humboldt, a Eureka-based micro-business that includes an indoor cultivation operation, commercial kitchen, distribution facilities and a dispensary, took home two Golden Bears for the second year in a row.

“It’s exciting,” said MOCA CEO Matt Engel. “This is a really cool competition because most competitions are based on judges’ experiences. … This one is specifically based on lab results, so it’s objective judging.”

The science-based contest includes awards in three divisions — indoor, outdoor and mixed light — and 11 categories per division, based on measured levels of various compounds: cannabinoids, individual terpenes and total terpene content. (You can read about what those are, and the difference between them, here. Engel offered this analogy: “If cannabinoids are the volume on your stereo, terpenes are kind of like the EQ.”)

MOCA’s Golden Bear trophies were awarded for the level of CBGa in their strain “Grape Cookies” and for the level of Limonene in their strain “Caffeine.” In total, MOCA walked away with four golds and three silvers.

Engel said these awards are different from other judged competitions such as the Emerald Cup not only because of the lab-testing-based criteria but also because of the reach and reputation of the California State Fair.

“It’s a different perspective, but it’s really cool because this is shared with the world and you get a much wider reach by putting [cannabis] next to wine and cheese and other craft things,” he said. “It’s very cool.” 

The other Humboldt County cultivator to land a Golden Bear was Talking Trees Farms, for the amount of Caryophyllene (a “spicy” terpene) in their outdoor strain “Rainbow Beltz.” The business also landed a gold medal for the level of Myrcene (a terpene also found in hops and lemongrass) in their mixed-light strain “Macalato.”

“We’re pretty stoked,” said Talking Trees Founder and CEO Craig Nejedly, who also highlighted the unique judging criteria of this contest.

“We just looked at what we had the highest terpenes in,” he said regarding the company’s decision to enter. “It was somewhat a gamble, but we knew we had a chance.”

Last year, Talking Trees took home one gold medal and three silvers, and Nejedly said he was excited to land two golds, including a Golden Bear, this year, though he noted that the influence of awards has diminished some in recent years.

“Like with the Emerald Cup, five years ago there was a lot more hoopla. It seems like awards are not as impactful [anymore].” But he was grateful that the State Fair focuses on terpenes rather than potency, or THC content, which has become a driver in the market. Connoisseurs, though, know the value of terpenes, he said.

Both Nejedly and Engel said they’ve had to make adjustments to stay afloat during the dramatic downturn in the cannabis industry over the past couple of years. Engel opened MOCA’s Eureka dispensary last year, and his operation includes production of bubble hash. Nejedly said he has adjusted to the market by slimming down operations and trying to be more strategic.

Several other Humboldt County growers landed awards as well:

• SoHum’s Organic Medicinals took home a gold medal for the level of co-dominant terpene (MCL) in their outdoor strain “Jelmints.”
• Savage Farms (Ettersburg) landed a silver in the same category for its strain “Slurty 3.”
• Northern Emeralds (Arcata) took silver for the level of terpinolene in their indoor strain “Durban Poison” and another silver for the amount of limonene in their mixed-light strain “Legendary OMG.”
• True Mom & Pop (Bridgeville) won silver for the level of co-dominant terpene (MCL) in mixed-light strain “Banana Pancakes.”

Click here for a full list of winners.

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PREVIOUSLY: Ground Has Been Broken on Klamath River Restoration, the World’s Largest-Ever Dam-Removal Project

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Press release from the Klamath River Renewal Corporation:

The deconstruction of Copco No. 2, the smallest of the four hydroelectric dams being removed from the Klamath River, is underway. This week, crews removed the gates, walkway, and two of the five bays down to the spillway. This work was done to direct waters around the dam, rather than over it, allowing construction crews to do work through the summer months. 

“While this is just the first step, it certainly is an exciting moment,” said Mark Bransom, CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC). “Crews are making fast progress in these early stages of the project, and we are on track with our removal timeline.” 

Crews placed around 10 feet of rock on either side of the dam in order to reach the gates and bays for deconstruction. Much of the Copco No. 2 infrastructure remains in place below this rock surface. Deconstruction of this dam will continue through the summer, with final decommissioning and complete removal occurring sometime in September. 

“We are pleased that we were able to make so much progress this week,” noted Dan Petersen, Kiewit’s Project Manager overseeing the removal of Copco No. 2 “But removing Copco No. 2 is still not a done deal. We expect to officially wrap up this phase of the dam removal project sometime in September.” 

The other three dams, Iron Gate, Copco No. 1, and JC Boyle are expected to be removed next year, beginning with the drawdown of the reservoirs in January of 2024. Their incremental deconstruction will continue throughout the year, with construction activities expected to conclude sometime in late 2024. 

Florence Evelyn Badger Cox
Aug. 24, 1924 - March 5, 2023

Evelyn was born in Okemah, Oklahoma to Nola Frances Hyde Badger and Guy Edwin Badger. She was the longest-lived of eight siblings, reaching the age of 98 years and six months. On March 5, 2023 at her home in the presence of her family, she passed into her heavenly home.

After graduating high school, Evelyn attended college at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma for two years. In 1945, she married Lee Cox and their first years of marriage were spent in Iowa City, Iowa where Lee was attending dental school while enlisted in the Navy.

After dental school, while still in the Navy, they moved several times, living in Texas, Guam, California and Japan and finally settling in Eureka in January, 1961 where Lee continued to practice dentistry for many years. Evelyn was his chair-side assistant from time to time through those years, so she knew a lot about teeth and dentistry. (Lee and Evelyn had one baby, John, who was born with two teeth — a rare phenomenon, especially for a dentist’s baby. An associated press photo of Lee and John went all over the world.) Evelyn and Lee were able to celebrate 58 wedding anniversaries together before his passing into heaven in March, 2004.

Evelyn and Lee were loving parents, grandparents and great-grandparents and took every opportunity to babysit or to help out family and friends in any way they could. Over the years they made many trips to Disneyland, taking 1 grandchild a year until most of them had been able to go. Evelyn taught some of her grandchildren how to read, took them to church, took them out to eat, watched movies and played games with them. Her house was the hub for every family get-together.

Evelyn was a cheerful, friendly, generous, wise, thoughtful and gracious person with a dry witty sense of humor. She was a good mother, a good friend and a good neighbor, always offering her help. She was dearly loved by her family and friends.

Evelyn took great joy in nature, loved flowers and birds (especially hummingbirds), the pets around her, Yosemite, etc. Her very favorite flower was a rose, “Just Joey” (which bore the name of one of her grandsons). Evelyn also loved coffee and was rarely ever without a cup in her hand. Her favorite color was yellow, echoing her sunny disposition. Being a beautiful woman of fashion in the 50’s and 60’s, one of her favorite “colors” was the leopard print.

Evelyn was a perennial student, reading and learning about many subjects, including: Christianity, history, politics, health, nutrition, art, computer technology, etc and collected many books on many subjects. She took classes including a painting class and painted many paintings which included family and friends in casual portraits.

Being interested in home decorating, she opened a design business in Eureka in the 1960s (Evelyn’s House of Fine Furniture). As a life-long learner, later in life, Evelyn learned how to use computers, a digital single lens reflex camera and an iPad. She took and printed many photos.

Evelyn loved Jesus and was a member of the First Baptist Church in Eureka, which she attended and supported for over 50 years. She shared God’s love through her kindness and generosity. When her children were teenagers, she was the leader of the church youth group. She was involved in the “Young Life” and “Eagle’s Nest” activities for teens. In later years, due to her interest in photography, she became the unofficial photographer for church activities and events for many years.

Evelyn was also interested in helping her community and became involved in several community programs. For a time, she, with other Christians, regularly visited and shared God’s love with the inmates at the Humboldt County jail. She taught reading to people through the Humboldt literacy project and through this organization, she made dear friends in the local Hmong community.

Evelyn and Lee had four children — Kitty and Michael Hugo, Susan Cox, John and Gigi Cox and Roger and Linda Cox; eight grandchildren- John, Jack, Kari, Katey, Ryan, Aaron, Andrew and Joey; and 11 great grandchildren- Keani Mia, Kameron, Avery and Austin, Jackson, Elle Rose, Aidan, Malakai, David, Dean and Lydia.

Her extended family includes Linda Cox’s four children- Rachyl and Jonathan, Jessica and Kearnon, Ryan and Hannah, and Jenny; and Linda’s eight grandchildren: Phoenix, Lian, Avery, Thane, Emily and Emma, Weston and Hudson.

Evelyn is survived by numerous nieces and nephews and their families:

• Badger Family: Brenda, Sara, Deven & Lynn & Asha, Anjali, Bill
• Helt Family: Carol, Ruth, Ken & Nelda
• Cox Family: Ann & Mark & Amy, Dan & Mary, Dee, Charlotte, Jane, Wayne, & Fred
• Family Friends: Lorna and Doris Jean of Iowa, Jeanette & Marcia, Lei & Bien, Raj & Donna

She is also survived by dear friends from the First Baptist Church in Eureka, including the “Blitz Girls” and her good friend, Cassie Wyland.

Evelyn was able to stay in her own home for the last four years with the help of her children and grandchildren, including her wonderful, caring, selfless and devoted sons and daughters-in-law, John & Gigi Cox and Roger & Linda Cox.

A celebration of Evelyn’s well-lived life will be held on July 14, 2023 at 1pm at the Eureka First Baptist Church, at Del Norte and E Streets in Eureka.

Evelyn is interred along side her husband, Lee, at Ocean View Cemetery in Eureka. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Eureka First Baptist Church.

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PREVIOUSLY:

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Press release from Avelo:

Avelo Airlines announced today it is returning exclusive nonstop service between the Humboldt Bay Area and Las Vegas. Avelo is once again the only airline offering nonstop service between California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport (ACV) and Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport (LAS).

Introductory one-way fares between ACV and Las Vegas start at $49*. Customers can make reservations at AveloAir.com. Avelo will now serve two nonstop destinations from ACV: Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Avelo Airlines Chairman and CEO Andrew Levy said, “We are excited to return exclusive nonstop service between the Humboldt Bay Area and the Entertainment Capital of the World. Our Redwood Coast Customers know Avelo is ACV’s most affordable and reliable airline. Flying to Vegas — whether for a week-long vacation or a spontaneous weekend getaway — is now easier than ever. Our Eureka and Arcata Customers told us they missed Avelo’s convenient, low-fare access to Vegas, and we listened.”

Avelo’s exclusive twice-weekly nonstop service between ACV and Las Vegas begins on September 8, 2023. Avelo will operate the flight on Mondays and Fridays utilizing Boeing Next-Generation (NG) 737 aircraft.

ACV Director of Aviation Cody M. Roggatz, C.M. said, “We are elated to have Avelo providing our region with direct service to Las Vegas! Their low fares, and exemplary customer service, will better connect Humboldt County to the World and the World to the Redwood Coast.”