Jack Ronald Dumas — born July 16,1936 in Green Bay, passed away February 25, 2022 in Eureka.

His battle with serious medical issues in recent years showed his courage in facing life’s challenges with a smile. Despite the pain Jack came out a hero and stayed strong until the end.

Jack was well known for his sense of humor, gardening, love for creation including plants and animals, fishing, camping, travel, football, especially his favorite team the Green Bay Packers, and most of all his family.

While serving as a marine at Quantico, Jack met Jean Rusk-Hiler, who was living in Washington DC. Love at first sight led them to Reno, where they married. They moved to Eureka where they began their family.

Jack had several jobs as a butcher, assistant zookeeper, and then found his chosen occupation doing landscape maintenance. He beautified many homes and businesses, often having clients say he was a master of pruning and design.

Jack had a great love for animals and creation. He developed this love while working on the family’s dairy farm in Wisconsin. We remember his stories about his pet chicken Henny Penny. In recent years Jack had a special bond with his kitty Bluesie Twosie.

If you asked Jack what was his most important accomplishment he would say it was when he dedicated his life to serving the Creator Jehovah. He looked forward to the future hope God has promised when the earth would become a paradise and all creation would be beautiful and in harmony. Part of that hope included no more pain, suffering, crying and even no more death. (Rev. 21:4)

Jack is survived by his wife of 64 years Jean (Rusk—Hiler)Dumas, Daughters Dawn (Louis Emmerik) Larson, Denise “DeeDee” (Lyle) Lowery, DeAnne Dumas, Grandsons Brandon McCovey, Trevon Jackson Verber, granddaughter Shiloh Verber, great grandson Daniel McKenzie, Sisters Shirley Blom, Beverly Berken, Rita(Russ) McMonagle, Patricia (Sylvester) Calaway, Judy (James) Gerbers, Brothers Richard (Marion) Dumas, Gary (Yolanda) Dumas,sister in law Gloria Dumas, brothers in law Joseph Secor and David Borman, numerous nieces and nephews, and huge family of friends.

Jack was predeceased by his parents Edward and Myrtle (Wolfgram) Dumas, Sisters Virginia (Kenneth) Kirchner, Myrtle (Harold) Collins, Marlene Secor, JoAnn (Kenneth) Edwards, brothers Henry Dumas, James (Audrey) Dumas, brothers in law Roger Blom, Robert Berken, half sister Marie Dumas, half brother Henry Leo Dumas.

The family wishes to thank all those who cared for Jack including, Hospice of Humboldt, Agape Home Health Care, Providence St Joseph Oncology and Veterans Hospice.

A memorial will be held on April 2, 2022 at 4:00 PM PDT via Zoom.

Meeting ID: 885 0713 7939

Passcode: Jack1936

Additional information about the memorial can be obtained by contacting Dawn at dawnlarson2020@gmail.com

In lieu of flowers please feel free to make donations to American Cancer Society, Alzheimer’s Association, Humboldt Hospice, jw.org or the charity of your choice.

Born September 20, 1942 in Coquille, Oregon. Went to the Lord February 25, 2022 in Fortuna. She was a long time resident of Loleta.

Rosalie was a very accomplished artist and spent most of her time painting. She also loved spending time with her family, going to the beach to watch the waves and working in her flower garden.

She had worked in retail in several places and as a teacher’s aide. While the children were growing up, she was a stay-at-home mom. She was a Cub scout den mother and was always involved in all of the kid’s activities.

She was a member of the Loleta Community Church.

She is survived by her husband of 46, years Thom Lindholm, as well as seven children:

• Margaret Lindholm of Loleta
• Steven Lindholm of La Paz, Mexico
• Gary Manich of Loleta
• Celia Brooke of Stanwood, Wash
• Greg Manich of Santa Maria, Calif.
• Keven Lindholm of Rancho Cordova, Calif., and
• Alyson Fields of Eureka.

…in addition to 14 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded by her parents, Orville and Miriam Roady, and her sister, Linda Miller.

A celebration of her life will be held at the Loleta Community Church on Saturday, April 9, at 2 p.m.

Maria Soares was born in Terceira, an island in the Azores, on December 10, 1924, to Jose and Rosa Rafael. She married the love of her life, Jose Soares, on June 17, 1944, and they had three beautiful children. They moved to San Diego in 1959, and then to Arcata in 1960. Maria ran a small daycare for many years and loved to garden. She was also a very prominent person in the Portuguese community and St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Maria passed away peacefully on March 10, 2022, and left behind a huge family that adored her, many friends, and one very dear friend, Maria Pires.

Mrs. Soares is survived by her three Children, Jose Jr./Ginger Soares, Manual/Andrea Soares, and Maria Bellegante. Her Nephew Joe/Marly da Rosa. Her Grandchildren, Robbie/Debbie Soares, Michael/Jena Soares, Kimberly/Scott Luce, Kelly Bellegante, Jason Bellegante, Gerald/Johanna Soares, and Audra/Anthony Latimer. Her Great Grandchildren, Gregory Allen, Tyler Rickard, Dakota Edwards, Masci’o Latimer, Alyssa Castro, Cassandra Soares, Darren Soares, Dorshaela Wesson, Haley Soares, McKenna Soares, Ashley Soares, Kaitlyn Steele, and Alissa Richardson. She also had 3 Great-Great Grandchildren, and many more relatives.

Mrs. Soares was preceded in death by her Husband Jose Soares, Parents Jose and Rosa Rafael, Brother Jose Rafael, sister Rosa Azevedo, Maria da Rosa, Niece Mary Alice/Avelino Gonsalves, Cousin Eduard/Maria Rafael.

We would also like to give a heartfelt thank you to Hospice of Humboldt for all the love they showered her with, and who made her final days comfortable and peaceful.

Rosary will be at Paul’s Chapel March 17. Viewing is from 6-7 p.m., and Rosary from 7-8 p.m. Mass will be at St. Mary’s Church in Arcata on Friday March 18, at 11 a.m., followed by burial at St. Mary’s cemetery. Reception to follow at the Portuguese Hall in Arcata.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Mary Soares’ loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

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Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez took to the steps of the Humboldt County Courthouse this afternoon to call out alleged rampant fiscal mismanagement, misappropriation of funds and fraud throughout various county departments. Paz Dominguez also seized the opportunity to formally announce her campaign for reelection.

Speaking to a crowd of roughly 40 residents, reporters, county staff and department heads with her husband, Fernando Paz, at her side, Paz Dominguez cited consistent conflicts between the Office of the Auditor-Controller and the Board of Supervisors, asserting that the “weight of power [at the county] has shifted significantly in favor of a quarreling board” whose priorities do not have the public’s best interest in mind.

“Only when all elected agencies abide by their roles and adhere to an equitable balance of power do we have a harmonious and functional government,” she said. “…However, when the balance of power shifts too far to one side and stays there for a sustained period of time, we see what we are seeing today within our county government: confusion, discontent, conflict and dysfunction.”

These conflicts, she said, “have empowered non-elected leadership staff [working] on behalf of the board” to undermine her authority as auditor-controller, “while simultaneously piling on additional work, mischaracteriz[ing] the purpose of the work of that office and mislead[ing] the public with a false narrative to distract from the fact that they have obstructed improvements while shifting resources towards those [individuals] with personal axes to grind and favors to fulfill.”

Paz Dominguez went on to say that sensational news stories “about the auditor-controller being too busy working to attend another meeting” have overshadowed illegal taxation of cannabis growers and the county’s failure to complete critical functions for its most vulnerable citizens.

“The public will forget the neglect of Native [American] children on the county’s watch if we tell them that the auditor-controller didn’t pay invoices for the homeless in Arcata, and we’ll just skip the part where we didn’t give the auditor-controller those invoices to pay until six months later,” she said. “The public will stop caring about the dead people’s assets being sold to county employees at an unfair discount if we keep shoving in their face a misinformed letter about the auditor-controller signed by anonymous people.”

The aforementioned letter, which was signed by five anonymous county department and division heads and an unknown number of county staff, underscored the “severe and critical nature of the growing and looming fiscal crisis” that threaten county staff and taxpayers.

The board discussed the letter during closed session this afternoon but did not report out or disclose any additional information to the public.

Paz Dominguez’s turned back to the board’s March 1 meeting in which she “laid out some hard truths” about the county’s alleged mismanagement of public funds, including a series of allegations regarding “confirmed cases of errors and fraud” in several county departments. 

“Two weeks ago, I made a reference to how some information can be difficult to hear, much like medicine can be difficult to swallow, but that it is also necessary if we want to heal,” she said. “Continuing that train of thought, the county’s central accounting function is sick and the illness is caused by the continuing decentralization of accounting functions. …There is no centralization of cash, capital assets, investments, inventory, leases, contracts, invoices, payroll, grants, loans, or even the financial software used to record these transactions and the auditor-controller cannot certify accuracy under penalty of perjury for even the most basic of financial reports because it does not have the information.”

When asked during the meeting whether she had documentation to substantiate her claims, Paz Dominguez said yes and agreed to return to the board on March 15 with proof. However, she failed to get the necessary documentation together before the item was put on the board’s agenda. Instead, she said the information is available electronically on the county’s public records platform. (The documents can be found here.)

How does the county fix this fiscal mess? “We clean up the funds,” Paz Dominguez said.

“My intention is to bring the power back to the people by implementing full transparency and allowing for electronic access of all revenues and all expenditures that flow through the Auditor-Controller’s Office,” she said. “…Humboldt is special, but it doesn’t have to be so special that it does accounting differently from everyone else in the state. …I have continued to work hard despite the political aggression of childish members of the board or the petty, anonymous and cowardly attacks of their staff. These attacks, without merit or substantial evidence, do nothing but impede the ability of this office to do what you elected it to do. …That is why I am announcing my candidacy for reelection.”

She underscored her commitment to the taxpayers of Humboldt County and vowed to make the county “take its medicine, as bitter as it may be to those with delicate palates because we want to heal.”

The office of the state attorney general has set a deadline of tomorrow for Paz Dominguez to file the county’s financial transaction reports from fiscal year 2019-20, which are more than a year past due. The office has threatened Paz Dominguez with a $5,000 fine if they are not posted by tomorrow.

After her speech, Paz Dominguez told a clutch of reporters that she would meet the AG’s deadline.

“It will be done,” said Paz Dominguez. “I don’t mess around when it comes to the Attorney General. I just wanted to be very clear with them that I’m submitting it because you are demanding it. Not because I’m certifying its accuracy and not because I believe everything in here, but because you have asked that it be submitted.”

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn and Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell stood on the sidelines during Paz Dominguez’s public address. “She made a lot of accusations today but she didn’t answer any questions or why any reports aren’t being done,” Bohn told the Outpost.

“She’s exactly right, it is the people’s money,” he said. “It’s theirs, no doubt, and that’s the way we operate, but we also have to meet state deadlines and we have another big one tomorrow.”

Bohn criticized Paz Dominguez for failing to provide proof of the assertions made during the board’s meeting earlier this month. “On March 1, she said all this was written out, all the claims, and she made six or eight criminal complaints against me as an elected official – criminal complaints – and she said that she had all those findings…well nothing’s there.”

Regarding her decision to run for reelection, Bohn said he had hoped she would be successful during her first go, “but it hasn’t shown yet.”

“Maybe in another four years she will be successful,” he said. “I just don’t know if we can afford it another four years.”

County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes offered the following statement in response to the auditor-controller’s allegations:

Today the Auditor-Controller as part of her re-election campaign made numerous unsubstantiated criticisms of county employees. For reasons known only to herself, Karen has chosen not to follow due process with her allegations, opting instead to politicize potential problems rather than solve them.

The AC talks a lot about transparency. Spending her time holding court with the media instead of doing the job she gets paid for is transparently political.

What we need from the AC is to fulfill the mandated functions of her office, which involves completing audits and filing financial documents correctly and on time. She has a Financial Transaction Report due tomorrow. This is a form that federal grant recipients are required to fill out to maintain funding, and the Attorney General threatened legal action against the AC personally for her failure to file the form since 2019. If she has time for news conferences, hopefully she has time to get her job done as well.

PREVIOUSLY: Rainy March Forecast to Ease Drought Conditions in Humboldt County After Dry Start to 2022

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The North Coast is forecast for a rainy weekend, with the possibility of snow in mountain areas.

Eureka’s National Weather Service office predicts that rain will move into the area Friday evening and could persist through Sunday.

Snow will be possible along mountain passes on Highways 36, 299, 3 and 199 on Friday night and Saturday. Snow levels are not expected to impact heavily trafficked areas. However, Highway 3 at Scott Mountain Summit could see as much as two inches of snow.

Dry weather and warm inland temperatures are forecast to return early next week.

A sneaker wave warning has been issued for the North Coast today until 7 p.m. due to the possibility of infrequent 20-foot breakers.

“Large, unexpected waves can sweep across the beach without warning, sweeping people into the sea from rocks, jetties, and beaches,” the NWS stated. “These waves can also move large objects such as logs, crushing anyone caught underneath.”

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The California Department of Education on Monday published its second crack at a new Mathematics Framework, a set of guidelines for math instruction that last year became the center of both a culture war about progressive education and an academic debate over how the state’s public schools should teach math.

The upshot: Despite pushback, the drafters haven’t changed much.

The new draft of the proposed framework — a non-binding series of recommendations — largely doubles down on the key goals of making math more relatable and closing the achievement gaps for Black and Latino students.

One of the key criticisms of the original: that by delaying algebra until 9th grade, it would make it tougher for most students to ever take high school calculus, a prerequisite for many colleges.

The drafters responded to that criticism by including examples to show how students could get to calculus by their senior year — for example, by taking two math classes, Geometry and Algebra II, at the same time.

Maria Clayton, a spokesperson for the California Department of Education, said the framework will give “more students the opportunity to be successful performing the highest levels of math — including calculus and statistics.” The goal, she said, is to get more students into jobs in science, technology, engineering and math without sacrificing the quality of instruction in California’s public schools.

Critics have said condensing math classes into one would force teachers to omit or rush through important material. Some of those critics told CalMatters late Monday they were still reviewing the revised framework to decide what to make of any changes.

This second iteration of the framework, published over a year after the first, consists of 14 chapters and two appendices, all amounting to over 1,000 pages. It provides a handbook for school district administrators and teachers for how to make sure students meet state standards.

The framework has never required mandatory changes for local school districts. Any changes are voluntary and on the local level. Local districts would still be able to decide when students take certain math classes. In the framework’s updated chapter on high school math instruction, the authors outline various possible scenarios in which students can take calculus by their junior or senior years.

The authors of the framework did not immediately respond to requests for comment. These math education experts from across the state have maintained that their intention was to make math more engaging and more welcoming for historically marginalized students, including women and Black and Latino students.

Jo Boaler, a professor at Stanford University, is one of the framework’s authors and a vocal advocate for more “progressive” forms of math instruction. This means more project-based assignments that are open-ended and relevant to real-world issues, departing from more traditional modes of instruction based on repetition and memorization.

The authors of the framework argue that teachers should strive to make math exciting and relatable for all students. It urges teachers not to label students as having or lacking “math brains” and to use more inclusive language in word problems.

The framework drew nationwide criticism from proponents of a more traditional approach. While some pundits warned of dangers inherent in “woke math,” academics from a variety of fields said the original framework watered down the rigor of high school math and threatened the state’s advancement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Some parents also said the framework would hold back students from taking calculus in high school, which would threaten their chances of college admission. And while the framework does encourage students to wait until 9th grade to take Algebra 1, it says districts can find ways to condense other classes like Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus to make sure students get to AP Calculus by 12th grade.

Waiting until 9th grade to take Algebra 1, however, has had mixed results at San Francisco Unified, CalMatters found. The district adopted the policy in 2014, resulting in improved grades but lower standardized test scores at some schools.

Morgan Polikoff, an education professor at the University of Southern California, said the framework will likely influence the way some districts teach math, even though it’s just a set of recommendations.

“I could definitely imagine that the framework could actually affect how districts structure their offerings,” he said.

Polikoff added that a non-binding framework sends two messages.

“On the one hand, the state clearly believes it’s best to teach mathematics in certain ways,” he said. “But on the other hand, there’s this intense resistance to any form of actual state oversight over curriculum.”

The new draft of the framework will undergo a 60-day public review period ending May 16. The California State Board of Education is currently scheduled to vote to approve the framework in July.

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

State lawmakers have approved a legislative fix they say will get UC Berkeley out of its enrollment jam and limit a judge’s ability to slap public colleges with similar orders to cap their enrollment if they blow past their student population targets.

Senate Bill 118 debuted last Friday and sailed through both houses of the Legislature today. It now heads to the governor’s desk. If it becomes law, it would go into effect immediately and apply retroactively to UC Berkeley.

Why we’re here

The proposed law targets aspects of the California Environmental Quality Act, the law at the center of a court order that UC Berkeley cap its enrollment at 2020-21 levels. Alameda Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman’s order last year to hold UC Berkeley’s enrollment at 2020-21 levels was a response to residents in the city of Berkeley who sued the university, challenging the impact the school’s enrollment growth would have on city services, scarce local housing and noise. That order thrust the campus into a mad scramble to find a way to cut its fall 2022 in-person campus enrollment by 2,600 students. To fulfill that mandate, the coveted UC campus devised a plan to enroll some new students online or have them start in spring of 2022, avoiding a feared reality in which the university would have to cut its new incoming class by 2,600 undergraduates.

The UC sought to reverse that enrollment cap, but the California Supreme Court rejected that appeal this month.

The Senate bill would do two things

First, it seeks to remove campus enrollment as a “project” in the eyes of the environmental law. The removal makes it impossible for litigants to challenge a school’s growth plans by targeting its student enrollment alone. Lawmakers and some legal experts feared this case and a previous one opened the door for community groups to sue other colleges for their increases in student attendance. Instead, the Legislature is using a new definition — campus population, rather than student enrollment — to measure a school population’s environmental impact. Campus population can include not just students but also employees. The UC has said it is the state’s third-largest employer.

A legislative analyst told the Assembly’s budget committee today that the student enrollment at two UC campuses, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, have exceeded those campuses’ development plans. No UC campus has so far exceeded its campus population targets.

Next, the legislative fix prevents a court from initially ordering a campus population cap if a judge deems that a campus exceeded its campus population goals. Instead the judge would tell a public higher-education campus to find ways to remedy the impacts of the population growth, such as through increased housing. If the campus fails to certify the updated environmental impact report within 18 months of a court order, then a judge can establish a campus population cap that’s tied to the school’s most recent planning document, known as a long-range development plan.Looking at campus population rather than student enrollment isn’t a fix that’s necessary for the UC Berkeley saga, but it’s seen as a way to protect student enrollment in the future in the event a campus does have to lower its overall population by court order. A campus could, for example, bring back fewer workers, sparing as deep a hit to student enrollment. The bill is also meant to avoid a situation in which a campus has to cut its population weeks before it starts admitting students. The 18-month window gives colleges time to address the flaws in their environmental reports without risking admissions offers to students.The bill “strikes the right balance,” said two leading lawmakers in a joint statement — Anthony Rendon, the Assembly speaker and a Democrat from South Gate and Phil Ting, a Democrat from San Francisco and chairperson of the Assembly’s budget committee. “It aims to make sure that environmental analysis of campus development plans continues to consider campus population impacts, while also giving higher education leaders a chance to remedy deficiencies before enrollment reduction mandates are issued.”Not all lawmakers were pleased. “This bill unfortunately rewards the mistakes of the UC,” said Assemblymember Luz Rivas, a Democrat from San Fernando, who added the bill should have gone through a lengthier policy study. Still, she backed the bill to support students.A key issue in the suit that led to the enrollment cap is that in the 2005 long-range development plan, UC Berkeley said its enrollment would be around 33,000 students in 2020. Instead, the university enrolled nearly 43,000 students in fall 2020. UC Berkeley has argued it doesn’t control its enrollment, the UC system and lawmakers do. The judge ordered the UC campus to study the environmental impacts of that enrollment growth and to consider alternatives to its campus population — and capped enrollment in the meantime.

“This isn’t really (California Environmental Quality Act) litigation run amuck but a case where UC Berkeley disregarded the clear, long-standing requirement to plan for increased enrollment,” Rivas said.

Next steps

UC Berkeley will likely have to submit new legal paperwork to begin the process of lifting the enrollment cap — either to judge Seligman or the appeals court slated to hear the full scope of the case sometime this year. Lawmakers say their legislation will allow the campus to enroll all new students as planned, avoiding the need for online enrollment and deferred admissions.

The group behind the lawsuit, Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods, will file court documents protesting that move, said Phil Bokovoy, the group’s president. At the same time, a court may decide that today’s legislative fix itself is unconstitutional, which would trigger another protracted legal battle.

There are other possible headwinds. Even if the court agrees the enrollment cap should be lifted, “I don’t see how the case could be dismissed in time for them to send admission letters out” by March 24, said Bokovoy. That’s the deadline UC Berkeley to let applicants know whether they’re admitted (some letters have already gone out). But the university may have some slack; generally, students across the country, including at UC Berkeley, don’t have to put down deposits to attend a college until May 1.

UC Berkeley itself had no comment on the legal approach they’ll take if the bill becomes law, when CalMatters reached out last week.

State needs more housing

“Let’s focus on the real issue here: We need to build more student housing,” said Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, a Democrat from Sacramento who is chair of the budget subcommittee on education, told CalMatters.

He backs the legislative fix and also is proposing a bill to create a $5 billion zero-interest loan for the state’s public universities and colleges to build student and faculty housing. That amount should create 20,000 to 25,000 more beds. That’s on top of another $2 billion the state plans to spend on student housing.

Berkeley resident Bokovoy said campuses should build housing first before adding more students. “Adding more population to the campus before you solve the housing problems is going to have a lifelong impact on those students because they are going to struggle to be successful while they’re here,” he said.Already a third of college students struggle with housing instability and tens of thousands experience homelessness.Another bill would exempt certain campus housing projects from the environmental quality act. Other legal experts want the law to stop viewing population growth as a form of pollution. Backers of the act say it keeps communities environmentally safe.But the university isn’t the only player in developing insufficient housing, said Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Oakland who is chairperson of the Senate’s committee on the budget. She noted that the city of Berkeley’s voters passed an ordinance in 1973 that severely restricted the creation of apartments. “We have had our local governments not as willing to build the housing that we know that our state needs,” she said.

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