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Fortuna residents and visitors are likely aware that the Fortuna Theatre has been closed since late last year and, with this being “Barbenheimer” season, you’ve probably been wondering lately if and when the theater will reopen, hoping that you might get a chance to view the summer’s hottest movies on Humboldt’s largest screen. 

But it looks like eager Fortuna moviegoers will have to continue to wait for a while. David Corkill, owner of Cinema West, the Petaluma-based company that owns Fortuna Theatre, said that the company is still unsure of how soon the theater will be able to reopen after it suffered some water damage that will probably be very expensive to repair. 

The closure happened after the area was rocked by a 6.4 earthquake last December, which broke a fire sprinkler line inside of the theater, causing significant water damage to the ceiling and drywall in the building. Corkill said that the cost of repairs has still not been determined, but he plans to be at the theater sometime in the next couple of weeks to have the damage fully evaluated and get an estimate for the repairs. 

You’re probably wondering, but why has it taken the owner so long to repair the building? Well, because the theater was already not making any money in recent years, reopening it has not exactly been a high priority for Cinema West, which operates 175 movie screens in 18 different locations. Corkill said that he’s still not sure if it will be worth it to invest the money for repairs and reopen the theater during a time when attendance has been low. 

“We need to make sure that the theater will be able to support itself,” Corkill told the Outpost in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s just not quite performing like it used to.” 

The Fortuna Theatre was built in 1938 and, like most old theaters, originally held only one large screen. Cinema West purchased the theater in 1999, restoring the aging building and converting the upstairs balcony into two additional screening auditoriums. Eventually, Cinema West bought two adjoined properties and added three more screen rooms, making Fortuna Theater into a large, six-screen movie theater. One of the screens is 50 feet wide, Corkill said, making it the largest movie screen in Humboldt County. 

For a while after the remodel the theater did pretty well, Corkill said, but after a few years business started to gradually decline. When COVID hit in early 2020, the theater, like most businesses, had to close for a while and lost a lot of revenue. Since reopening after the pandemic closure, Corkill said, attendance has just not returned to what it was pre-COVID and the theater has not been profitable for Cinema West. When the earthquake-related damage happened, it seemed like a good time to close the theater for a while, and take some time to decide what to do about the repairs and about the business in general. 

Of course, Fortuna city officials would like to see the theater reopen as soon as possible and Fortuna City Manager Merritt Perry said that he has talked with Corkill and has tried to offer as much help from the City as he can, including helping find a local company to do the repairs and even offering a low-interest loan to help cover the costs. 

But Corkill said that he doesn’t need to borrow money to cover the repairs; the issue is just whether or not it is worth it yet to reopen a theater that was not turning a profit, especially after Cinema West has already spent so much money and time on repairs to the building. Corkill added that he “really would like to be able to reopen for the community,” and that, despite the unprofitability, the theater would still be open and limping along were it not for the added issue of the water damage. 

When asked if he had considered just selling the theater, Corkill said that he has not put the property on the market yet, but he would “entertain an offer” if someone were interested in buying it. If that someone is you, then you can reach out to Corkill via the Cinema West office at (707) 762-0990. 

Perry also said he would love to see the space sold to someone local and he hopes that the theater, which has been a part of the community for so long, will be able to open again soon. 

“It’s one of the few things that young people have to do in town,” Perry said. “Without a theater, we’re more of a bedroom community. It adds to the quality of life and makes [Fortuna] a better place to live.”

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U.S. News and World Report has just released its annual “Best Hospitals” report, for which data journalists analyzed “millions of hospital visits and admissions” to assess the quality of care across a range of specialties, procedures and conditions. 

In a press release (published in full below), Providence Northern California Communications Manager Christian Hill proudly announces that Eureka’s Providence St. Joseph Hospital landed on the publication’s list of Best Regional Hospitals. 

Indeed, U.S. News and World Report evaluated 420 hospitals in the state, with 68 of them meeting the publication’s “high standards” to be ranked among the Best Hospitals in California. St. Joe’s made the cut, just barely, coming in at No. 68.

It did so by being rated “high performing” in seven adult procedures or conditions. Namely, these:

• colon cancer surgery
• heart attack
• heart failure
• kidney failure
• hip fracture
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD)
• pneumonia

St. Joe’s performed less well in other categories — notably, prostate cancer surgery and heart bypass surgery, both of which earned “below average” marks, as well as patient experience, for which St. Joe’s scored just two stars out of a possible five.

The patient experience rankings are broken into 10 categories, and St. Joe’s only managed to score above two stars in one of them: “satisfaction with quality of discharge information.” Eight categories earned two-star ratings while one (“satisfaction with noise volume”) earned a single star.

You can click here to access the full scorecard for St. Joe’s, which includes profiles for individual doctors and report cards for the hospital’s performance across more than two dozen procedures or conditions.

None of the eight other hospitals in the North Coast region made the Best Regional Hospitals list, and only one (Adventist Health Howard Memorial in Willits) ranked as “high performing” on any procedures or conditions.

Mad River Hospital in Arcata ranked higher than St. Joe’s in patient experience (four stars out of five) but also ranked below average for treating heart failure, diabetes and stroke.

Tiny little Jerold Phelps Community Hospital in Garberville was only rated on a single condition, scoring below average for treating pneumonia. The report also notes that nurse staffing is “very low.”

Below is the full press release from Providence:

Following a year of delivering outstanding patient care, Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka is proud to announce that it has been named by U.S. News & World Report to its 2023-2024 Best Hospitals. The rankings assist patients and their doctors in choosing the right hospital for them. Overall, U.S. News ranked St. Joseph Hospital #68 in the state of California out of 420 hospitals evaluated.

St. Joseph Hospital was named as a Best Regional Hospital on the North Coast in the 2023-2024 “Best Hospital” Rankings. U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 hospitals across 15 specialties and 21 procedures and conditions; only 12% of evaluated hospitals earned a Best Hospitals ranking. Hospitals awarded a “Best” designation excelled at factors such as clinical outcomes, level of nursing care and patient experience.

“Providence St. Joseph Hospital is committed to providing the highest level of care to our friends, families and neighbors in Humboldt County and ensuring every patient has access to leading-edge procedures and research-backed treatments,” Interim Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer Ranjit Hundal, MD, said. “I want to congratulate our physicians, nurses and staff members who made this achievement possible by providing exceptional outcomes for our community.”

In addition to the Best Regional Hospital recognition, St. Joseph Hospital received acclaim as a High Performing hospital in seven common procedures or conditions – colon cancer surgery, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart attack, heart failure, hip fracture, kidney disease, and pneumonia. This is the highest distinction a hospital can earn for U.S. News’ Best Hospitals Procedures & Conditions ratings.

The annual Procedures & Conditions ratings are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions or elective procedures.

“For 34 years, U.S. News has provided data-informed rankings to help patients and their doctors find the best hospital to treat their illness or condition,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News.

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For more information on the U.S. News Best Hospitals, explore Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using #BestHospitals.

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PREVIOUSLY: Drug Task Force Arrests Three at Fortuna Motel

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Press release from the Humboldt County Drug Task Force:

Lovfald

On August 1st, 2023, Humboldt County Drug Task Force Agents received information that Cheyenne Lea Silva Lovfald (age 29) had purchased narcotics and a firearm outside of Humboldt County, and was currently traveling back to the Eureka area. Silva Lovfald is a convicted felon and is also on felony probation with a search clause for narcotic related offenses. 

HCDTF Agents set up in the area of a hotel located in the 200 block of 5th Street in Eureka, where Silva Lovfald was suspected to be staying. While in the area, Agents watched Silva Lovfald arrive in a vehicle and park in the parking lot of the hotel. Agents moved in and detained Silva Lovfald without incident.

Agents searched Silva Lovfald’s person and vehicle. Agents located approximately 1 ounce of fentanyl, a digital scale, and a non-serialized “Lifecard” .22 magnum handgun. The firearm was the size and shape of a credit card that unfolded into a functional single shot handgun.

Silva Lovfald was placed under arrest and transported to the Humboldt County correctional facility where she was booked for the following charges:

• 11351 HS: Possession of narcotics for the purpose of sales
• 11352 HS: Trafficking narcotics for the purpose of sales
• 24710 PC: Possession of a “wallet gun”
• 29800(a)(1) PC: Felon in possession of a firearm
• 1203.2 PC: Violation of probation 

Anyone with information related to this investigation or other narcotics related crimes are encouraged to call the Humboldt County Drug Task Force at 707-267-9976.

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A note from the Outpost: If you’ve never seen one of these “Lifecard” weapons, here’s a short video of one:

In summary

Waste would undergo extensive treatment and testing before it’s piped directly to taps, providing a new, costly but renewable water supply. The state’s new draft rules are more than a decade in the making.

Californians could drink highly purified sewage water that is piped directly into drinking water supplies for the first time under proposed rules unveiled by state water officials.

The drought-prone state has turned to recycled water for more than 60 years to bolster its scarce supplies, but the current regulations require it to first make a pit stop in a reservoir or an aquifer before it can flow to taps.

The new rules, mandated by state law, would require extensive treatment and monitoring before wastewater can be piped to taps or mingled with raw water upstream of a drinking water treatment plant.

“Toilet-to-tap” this is not.

Between flush and faucet, a slew of steps are designed to remove chemicals and pathogens that remain in sewage after it has already undergone traditional primary, secondary and sometimes tertiary treatment.

It is bubbled with ozone, chewed by bacteria, filtered through activated carbon, pushed at high pressures through reverse osmosis membranes multiple times, cleansed with an oxidizer like hydrogen peroxide and beamed with high-intensity UV light. Valuable minerals, such as calcium, that were filtered out are restored. And then, finally, the wastewater is subjected to the regular treatment that all drinking water currently undergoes.

“Quite honestly, it’ll be the cleanest drinking water around,” said Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the state’s Division of Drinking Water.

The 62 pages of proposed rules, more than a decade in the making, are not triggering much, if any, debate among health or water experts. A panel of engineering and water quality scientists deemed an earlier version of the regulations protective of public health, although they raised concerns that the treatment process would be energy-intensive.

“I would have no hesitation drinking this water my whole life,” said Daniel McCurry, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California.

This water is expected to be more expensive than imported water, but also provide a more renewable and reliable supply for California as climate change continues. Most treated sewage — about 400 million gallons a day in Los Angeles County alone — is released into rivers, streams and the deep ocean.

Luis Canela, a water quality technician, injects chemicals to chlorinate water at the Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant in Carson. Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters

The draft rules, released on July 21st, still face a gauntlet of public comment, a hearing and peer review by another panel of experts before being finalized. The State Water Resources Control Board is required by law to vote on them by the end of December, though they can extend the deadline if necessary. They would likely go into effect next April and it will take many years to reach people’s taps.

Heather Collins, water treatment manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, said the regulations will give the district more certainty about how to design a massive, multi-billion dollar water recycling project with the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts. The district imports water that is provided to 19 million Southern Californians.

The joint effort, called Pure Water Southern California, has already received $80 million from the state. The first phase of the project, which could be completed by 2032, is expected to produce about 115 million gallons of recycled water a day, enough for 385,000 Southern California households.

Most is planned to go towards recharging local water agencies’ groundwater stores, but about 20% could be added to drinking water supplies upstream of Metropolitan’s existing treatment plant for imported water.

“We’re excited,” Collins said. “It helps better inform us on what our project needs to include, so that we can have a climate-resistant supply for our agencies in Southern California.”

The new rules come as endless cycles of drought leave California’s water suppliers scrabbling for new sources of water, like purified sewage. In 2021, Californians used about 732,000 acre feet of recycled water, equivalent to the amount used by roughly 2.6 million households, though much of it goes to non-drinking purposes, like irrigating landscapes, golf courses and crops.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for increasing recycled water use in California roughly 9% by 2030 and more than doubling it by 2040.

“Water recycling is about finding new water, not just accepting the scarcity mindset — being more resourceful in terms of our approach,” Newsom said last May in front of Metropolitan’s Pure Water Southern California demonstration plant.

Some recycled water is already used to refill underground stores that provide drinking water, a process called indirect potable reuse, employed beginning in the 1960s in Los Angeles and Orange counties. But a water agency must have a clean and convenient place to store the expensive, highly-purified water. “You don’t want to inject this recycled wastewater that you’ve spent all this effort cleaning into a dirty, polluted aquifer just to ruin it again,” McCurry said.

To expand these uses, state lawmakers in 2010 tasked the water board with investigating the possibility of adding recycled water either directly into a public water system or just upstream of a water treatment plant. In 2017, they set a deadline to develop the regulations by the end of 2023.

California won’t be the first; Colorado already has regulations and the nation’s first direct potable reuse plant was built in Texas in 2013. Florida and Arizona have rules in the works.

California’s statewide rules, however, are expected to be the most stringent, said Andrew Salveson, water reuse chief technologist at Carollo Engineers, an environmental engineering consulting firm that specializes in water treatment.

“They are more conservative than anywhere else,” he said. “And I’m not being critical. In the state of California, because we’re in the early days of (direct potable reuse) implementation, they’re taking measured and conservative steps.”

Removing viruses and chemicals

The water that flushes down toilets, whirls down sinks, runs from industrial facilities and flows off agricultural fields is teeming with viruses, parasites and other pathogens that can make people sick. Chemicals also contaminate this sewage, everything from industrial perfluorinated “forever chemicals” to drugs excreted in urine. Bypassing groundwater stores or reservoirs to funnel purified sewage directly into pipes means that there’s less room for error.

The new regulations would ramp up restrictions on pathogens, calling for scrubbing away more than 99.9999% of diarrhea-causing viruses and certain parasites. Also a series of treatments are designed to break down chemical contaminants like anti-seizure drugs, pain relievers, antidepressants and other pharmaceuticals. Medications can bypass traditional sewage treatment so they are found in low concentrations in recycled sewage and groundwater.

Water makes its way to the first step of the water purification process, membrane bioreactors, at the demonstration plant in Carson. Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters

The added technologies are good at washing away pharmaceuticals, McCurry said, so having them “back-to-back introduces a ton of redundancy,” he said. “Any pharmaceutical you could think of, if you tried to measure it in the product water of one of these plants, is going to be below the detection limit.”

The new rules call for extensive monitoring to ensure the treatment is working. Some harmful chemicals, such as lead and nitrates, which are dangerous to babies and young children, will be tested for weekly; others, monthly. And water providers must also monitor the sewage itself before it even reaches treatment for any chemical spikes that could indicate illegal dumping or spills.

“We think we’ve got the chemical classes covered in the treatment processes, so that we’re removing materials that we don’t even know are there,” the water board’s Polhemus said.

Jennifer West, managing director of WateReuse California, a trade association for water recycling, said she was happy to finally see California’s regulations, though she hopes the state will build in more flexibility for water providers to alter the suite of treatments as technologies change.

Richard Gersberg, San Diego State University professor emeritus of environmental health, said he supports using highly treated waste for drinking water. But he suggests that the state fund long-term studies comparing health effects in people who drink it to those whose drinking water comes from another source, such as rivers, “which might end up being worse. Probably is,” he said.

Given the vast and changing cocktail of chemicals constantly in use, “we don’t know what we don’t know,” Gersberg said. “If this becomes huge in California, and it will, I believe … we should at least spend a little money.”

Who will be first?

All this treatment and monitoring is likely to be pricey, which is why Polhemus expects to see it largely limited to large urban areas that produce a lot of wastewater, such as Los Angeles County. The Metropolitan Water District’s $3.4 billion estimate for building the project dates back to 2018, and has likely increased since then, according to spokesperson Rebecca Kimitch.

For small and medium communities, Polhemus said, “it doesn’t pencil in a small scale type of arrangement.”

The Orange County Water District, which has long been a leader in purifying recycled water, has concluded that piping it directly to customers doesn’t pencil out for them, either, because they’ve already invested so heavily in refilling their carefully tended aquifer.

It would “require adding more treatment processes and increasing operating expenses,” board president Cathy Green said in a statement. “Local water agencies are currently well-equipped to continue to supply drinking water to customers in our service area at a low cost using the Orange County Groundwater Basin.”

For other regions like Silicon Valley, though, the costs may be worth it as climate change continues to shrink state supplies.

“At this point, it’s more expensive than water we might import during a drought. But who knows what will happen in the future,” said Kirsten Struve, assistant officer in the water supply division at the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which serves approximately 2 million people.

“That’s why we need to get prepared.”

The Pure Water Southern California Demonstration Plant showcases technology that may provide drinking water to Southern Californians by 2032. Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters

The Santa Clara water agency, known as Valley Water, is planning a $1.2 billion project in Palo Alto to produce about 10 million gallons a day of water for groundwater recharge, but Struve said she hopes the plant also will be used for direct potable reuse in the future.

The timing of the regulations has butted up against the realities of planning for Monterey One Water on the Monterey Peninsula as well. The utility has been injecting purified wastewater into the seaside aquifer for three years, producing about a third of the local supply, said General Manager Paul Sciuto. It is working on expanding the project by 2025, Sciuto said.

“I get that question of, ‘This water is so pure, why do you put it in the ground? Why can’t you just serve it?’ ” he said. “And I always fall back on, well, there’s no regulations that allow us to do that at this point.”

Now that the state is closer to finalizing them, he said, “there’s a point on the horizon to shoot for.”

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

A message from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

Well, it’s official… the cowboy hats are here to stay! Our deputies now have the option to wear cowboy hats as part of their daily uniform.

Next time you see us, make sure to give us a howdy!

Some of California’s highest-paid public employees are in an intensifying labor battle with the Newsom administration over staffing shortages at state prisons and hospitals that workers say endanger patients and staff.

The union representing doctors and psychiatrists working in California correctional facilities said that 91% of voting members authorized a strike Monday. Non-competitive salaries, strenuous working conditions and an overreliance on higher-paid contracted doctors, make it difficult to hire staff physicians, said Dr. Stuart Bussey, president of the umbrella Union of American Physicians and Dentists.

“We’d like to settle this thing without (striking), but our members are prepared to act,” Bussey said.

A strike authorization does not mean workers will not show up to work, although it could lead to a strike. Negotiations began in March, and the union’s contract expired July 1. The state and its physicians remain “very far apart,” Bussey said.

The California Department of Human Resources told CalMatters it “does not comment on ongoing negotiations.”

The biggest sticking point is salaries. Though doctors and psychiatrists pull down between $285,000 and $343,000 annually, according to California Correctional Health Care Services, temporary contracted workers make twice as much, said Dr. Nader Wassef, psychiatrist and chief of staff at Napa State Hospital.

“I am not going to claim poverty. What I’m trying to say is if we plan on getting trained, qualified psychiatrists to treat these patients, we are not going to get any because we are not competitive,” Wassef said.

The vacancy rate among on-site psychiatrists exceeded 50% in June, according to court documents filed by the state in an ongoing lawsuit over prison conditions and prisoner safety. Among all psychiatrists, including telehealth providers, the vacancy rate was 35%.

More than 20% of primary care doctor positions are vacant, California Correctional Health Care Services told CalMatters in an unsigned statement Tuesday. The agency did not respond to questions about contractor pay.

Labor strife during budget crunch

The strike authorization comes as the Newsom administration faces a battery of difficult contract negotiations, all in the midst of a $31 billion budget deficit.

Increasingly, state workers say salaries don’t cover basic needs with inflation and the cost of housing cutting deeply into paychecks. In July, contracts expired for the state’s two largest unions — SEIU Local 1000 and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. They represent more than 125,000 workers, and SEIU is demanding double-digit raises. The union representing state scientists is also demanding salary increases commensurate with privately employed peers.

The state is offering the prison doctors’ union a 2% raise for each of the next three years, which members say will not be enough to help with recruiting and retaining doctors. The union wants at least a 15% raise in the first year of the new contract.

The prison doctor’s union is small, representing roughly 1,300 employees, but it is the “linchpin of California’s correctional medical system,” Bussey said. Doctors are responsible for assessing patients daily, writing prescriptions, overseeing drug treatment, providing behavioral and mental health interventions and giving court testimony.

Wassef, who has worked at Napa State Hospital for 13 years, said working in a correctional medical facility is more challenging than working in a typical hospital.

“Our patients are really very sick. I have patients that have been in the hospital 20 or 30 years,” Wassef said. “They become violent, some are in restraints… The patient population puts higher demand than what is in the community hospital.”

Wassef said his hospital has not been fully staffed since 2014. It has a 45% vacancy with 12 open positions.

Contract prison doctors paid more

Ten of those positions at Napa are filled by temporary contractors who are paid twice the hourly rate of staff doctors.

Bussey said the comparatively low take-home pay shows the state knows what a competitive salary looks like and has the money to foot the bill. The state spends approximately $100 million per year on contracted physicians, he said. Contractors do not get the benefits and pensions state workers do, but the pay differential makes it easy for staff members to quit and return as higher-paid contractors, Wassef said.

He said five psychiatrists recently quit staff jobs at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk to work as contracting physicians instead.

The physician shortage in prisons also makes it difficult for the state to meet court-imposed staffing mandates that have been in place in state prisons for more than two decades.

In March, a U.S District Court judge for California’s Eastern District issued the state a $1,000 per day fine for failing to implement appropriate suicide prevention measures in state prisons over the past eight years, including reducing the psychiatrist and case manager vacancy rate to 10% or below. That 10% benchmark was originally set by a judge in 2002. More than one-third of state prisoners have serious mental health disorders, according to court documents.

“Faced with the persistently high population of mentally ill incarcerated persons, the state has failed to staff its prisons with the number of mental health professionals required to provide class members constitutionally adequate care,” Chief U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller wrote in the order.

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

Norma Olson Matney, age 66, of Hydesville, CA, passed away on July 17th in Hydesville, CA.

Norma Olson was born in Fort Bragg, CA to Patricia Vogt and Neil Olson on the 21st of November in 1956. She went to high school in Mckinleyville, CA. She married Randy Matney on the 28th of September, 1978 in Seattle, WA. She dabbled as a cook for a few years before having children and becoming a homemaker.

Norma will be remembered for her kind and generous heart. You had truly never met a more selfless person. She was spontaneous and ready for any adventure, only limited by what her body could handle. She loved fiercely, felt deeply and lived in every happy moment. Some of her favorite activities included hanging out with her loved ones, loving on all her pets, horseback riding, swimming, camping, reading, drawing and doodling in the most random places.

Being in the presence of family and friends was one of her favorite pastimes. If you invited her to an event, she always attended — witnessing, enjoying and participating. Truly happy to be invited and included in anything and everything. Her pride and joy was watching the grandchildren grow; this included all children in her life no matter their relation. Their antics and milestones always brought a smile or laugh to her beautiful face.

Animals were her passion; they all loved her and she loved them. She rode horseback any chance she could get, feeling truly free. Riverbar swimming had become increasingly more difficult. She had exclaimed after falling the last time that she would be sticking to pools from here on out. We choose to believe she is now swimming, riding and running anywhere and anytime she wants.

As we grieve the sudden loss of Norma, for reasons still unknown, we should remember that she would never want her loved ones to feel regrets. She cherished every moment, conversation and picture shared with her no matter how big or small. We will all be thinking of her and continue to include her in all upcoming events and milestones where her presence will be missed. She would never miss these in life, by holding her in our hearts and minds the tradition of her presence will continue.

Norma is preceded in death by her mother Patricia Olson, father Neil Olson, brother Kenneth (Kenny) Olson and husband Randy Matney. Norma is survived by son Jesse Matney, daughter Amy Pattison, son-in-law William (B.J.) Pattison, sister Kerry Olson, brother-in-law Justin Carr, grandchildren Ava Pattison and Mya Pattison. There are friends and family and friends that become family, too many to list here.

Remembrance will be held at noon on the 5th of August in Fortuna, CA. Amy Pattison can be contacted for remembrance location and information via email: hello.amy.pattison@gmail.com.

We know many of her loved ones will not be able to make it to this remembrance. There will be a time later we can talk about her and remember together. The family of Norma wishes to extend our sincere thanks to those who have been able to help during these devastating times. You know who you are, we love and appreciate you!

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