Jeffery
Wayne Chandler, 30, was born April 8, 1992 to Michelle Lawhon in
Arcata. Jeffery lost his life to addiction way too
soon on March 26, 2023.
Jeffery
will always be remembered as the sweet little redhead who
would always bring a gift home from school that he made for his mom.
He
attended East High.
Everyone
who
knew him knew how sweet and caring he was. He was a loving son,
brother, uncle and father. He will be missed by everyone but is now
longer in pain.
There
has to be a life after death because he deserves a second chance at
it.
Psalms
34:18:
The
LORD is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed
in spirit
Jeffery
is survived by his mother Michelle Lawhon, siblings John Lawhon,
Chrissy Lawhon, Janice Chandler, and Chad Markussen. By his
grandfather Dwayne Owsley, uncle Shawn Owsley, aunt Rebecca Thurman,
many nephews, nieces and cousins, and by his one and only daughter,
Mollee, who no matter what always held a special place in his heart.
###
The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Jeffery Chandler’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.
Stills from the video released by the Sheriff’s Office today (left, center) and a photo of the scene of the arrest by the Outpost’s Andrew Goff (right).
Press release from the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office:
On March 30, 2023, Jared Eli Aubrey, age 32, pled guilty to two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle. Mr. Aubrey also admitted that he discharged a firearm related to the attempted murder charges.
Aubrey.
On July 20, 2022, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputies J. Walstrom and Z. Dickson tried to stop a car for a traffic violation. Mr. Aubrey, a passenger in the fleeing car, leaned out the window and began firing at the deputies. The first shots were fired in the vicinity of Pine Hill School. The high speed pursuit continued throughout Eureka streets, and Mr. Aubrey again leaned out and fired a second set of shots near the intersection of Utah Street and Highland Avenue. Mr. Aubrey fired a total of four to six shots at the deputies.
During the pursuit, Deputy Walstrom, while he was driving, fired one round from his patrol rifle through the windshield. The pursuit ended when Mr. Aubrey’s car crashed into another car at the intersection of Buhne Street and Harrison Avenue.
Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees prosecuted the case and negotiated the disposition with input from the involved deputies. The District Attorney’s Investigative Bureau assisted in the prosecution, with primary support from Investigator B. Brawner. Mr. Aubrey was represented throughout the criminal proceedings by local attorney RJ Leohner.
District Attorney Stacey Eads would like to thank all of the involved law enforcement agencies for their responses, including the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, Eureka Police Department, Arcata Police Department, Fortuna Police Department, and all of the officers and other personnel that assisted in the investigation and prosecution of this case. District Attorney Eads would also like to thank all of the citizens that contacted law enforcement to provide statements that enable the officers to collect all the available evidence.
Mr. Aubrey will be sentenced on April 25, 2023, to an agreed-upon prison sentence of 43 years 8 months to life in prison.
HUMBOLDT TODAY: Humboldt correctional facility deputies go to great lengths to retrieve fentanyl from an inmate; Eureka’s getting a roundabout; plus, the Smith River is full of yucky stuff. Details on those stories and more in today’s newscast with John Kennedy O’Connor.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
A Briceland man has been taken into custody following a year-long investigation into child sexual abuse and internet crimes against children.
Over the course of this investigation, deputies identified 28-year-old Sebastion Hockett as being engaged in, manufacturing and possessing online child pornography involving at least two minor victims.
On March 30, 2023, Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies and detectives conducted a search of Hockett’s Briceland residence. Hockett was located at the residence and taken into custody without incident. During a search of the residence, deputies located and seized additional evidence related to this investigation.
Hockett was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of sexual assault of a minor under 10 years old (PC 288.7(b)), sexual assault of an unconscious victim (PC 289(d)(1)) and sexual exploitation of a child (PC 311.3(a)).
Additional charges are expected to be requested as a result of today’s search warrant.
Detectives believe there may be additional victims that have not yet been identified. Anyone with information regarding potential additional victims or related criminal activity is urged to contact HCSO Detective Danielle Vickman at dvickman@co.humboldt.ca.us or call (707) 445-7251, reference case number 202201804.
There are many groups working to remove Child Sexual Assault Material (CSAM) from the internet and many others providing support and resources to affected children and families. By reporting these incidents, you can help many children and families. If you or your child are exposed to CSAM online immediately report this to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) at www.cybertipline.org or call 1-800-843-5678. Your report will be forwarded to a law enforcement agency for investigation and action. Reports may be made 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have an emergency that requires an immediate law enforcement response, please call 911.
Members of Eureka High School’s Native American Club, Black Student Union, LatinX Club and Asian and Pacific Islander Club pose in front of their club’s murals last June. | File photo by Andrew Goff.
###
In retrospect, the Eureka City Schools Board’s decision last school year to ban new murals on the district’s campuses may have been exactly the motivation needed to inspire members of Eureka High’s various minority clubs. Well, that and the community’s response.
As you may recall, the mural project was the brainchild of student Naomi Doherty, who received a $2,500 grant from the Humboldt Area Foundation and recruited help from clubs representing Eureka High’s BIPOC students, including the Black Student Union, the Native American Club, the Asian and Pacific Islander Club and the Latinx Club.
With guidance from the Ink People Center for the Arts, the EHS students launched an initiative to produce culturally relevant murals, but they encountered some unexpected roadblocks. First, the project was delayed by the COVID pandemic. Then, Doherty was asked to develop official mural-approval procedures for the district, something that had never been required previously. Finally came the school board’s decision to simply scrap mural projects altogether, allegedly in an attempt to avoid controversy.
“We couldn’t have had the murals without the community backing us up,” said Jenica Huddleston, a Eureka High junior and co-president of the school’s Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Club. “Having something for the cultural clubs and the minority clubs in Eureka High is so important to us.”
Huddleston and her fellow co-president, Sidney Caampued (also a junior), spoke to the Outpost by phone yesterday afternoon. Caampued agreed that the community’s support was inspiring, and she said another member of their club came up with an idea to build on the momentum. The idea was to have “a gala, like a cultural ball as part of the mural project — like an after-party,” Caampued said.
Alas, there wasn’t enough time to organize the event before the mural unveiling, but this year’s AAPI co-presidents held onto the idea, Huddleston said.
“And so me and Sidney were like, ‘We should do something bigger, like a multicultural night market that we hosted so it’s at our high school. And we can invite other clubs and organizations not just from Eureka High.’”
That’s exactly what they’ve organized. The Asian and Pacific Islanders Club will host Eureka High School’s inaugural Multicultural Night Market on Sunday evening in the Jay Willard Gymnasium from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Caampued and Huddleston couldn’t be more excited.
“I feel like it’s just so empowering to see all of the different and diverse communities coming together … and to be able to appreciate and acknowledge the cultural traditions that we have,” Huddleston said.
In addition to performances from Eureka High student clubs, including theK-Pop/Hip Hop Club, the LatinX Club (who will perform baile folklórico) and the YEAH (Youth Educating Against Homophobia) Club, the event will feature demonstrations from Humboldt Taiko, Capoeira Azania and other outside organizations. Plus, there will be close to a dozen food vendors offering everything from homemade egg rolls to esquites, gumbo and more.
The mission of the event, according to a press release written by Caampued and Huddleston,is to do something for underrepresented groups while inviting the community “to experience this event filled with cultural and traditional foods, try new things and watch eye-opening performances.”
The performances will include a drag show from the YEAH Club, and given the recent political freakouts about drag, both nationally and locally, Caampued said the performance ties into the themes of diversity and inclusivity.
”I really feel like we should start acknowledging that this is something in our culture, this is something in our community, and we need to stand up for it,” she said. “We need to make sure that people know we are with this; we’re not against it. We’re not going to try to hide it anymore. I think that we need to really make more of a stand for our Youth Educating Against Homophobia group because they are part of a community for the new generation.”
Huddleston believes it’s important for the local community to be introduced to new experiences, “which is why I feel like multicultural night is a really big step towards that,” she said. “It’s truly empowering.”
Caampued chimed in: “It’s the first one that we’ve ever done at Eureka High School, so it’s kind of a historical moment.”
And yet she’s already looking to the future.
“Maybe next year could be even bigger,” she said. “We could invite even more people.”
In the not-too-distant future, if all goes according to plan, bicyclists and pedestrians will be able to traverse Eureka north to south – from Humboldt Bay to the Sequoia Park Zoo – on a dedicated trail.
Image via the City of Eureka. Click to enlarge.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard about the Bay to Zoo Trail, a project which, as its name suggests, would link the Waterfront Trail at the north end of Eureka to the Sequoia Park Zoo via two miles of Class I bike path and non-motorized facilities through the city. The trail would also connect with Zane Middle School and Washington Elementary to provide a safer route for kids to walk to school.
Eureka’s Open Spaces, Parks and Recreation Commission heard an update on the trail project last week. City staff has taken care of a significant portion of the environmental documentation required for the project, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“In 2020, the [California] Coastal Conservancy awarded us about $100,000 to do the environmental document … that helps [identify] your areas of sensitive habitat,” Scott Ellsmore, the city’s traffic project manager, explained during last week’s meeting. “It gives you an idea of where you’re working and what you’re doing. It’s an important step in the project because, if you haven’t done it, you’re kind of making some big guesses. … That was a nice checked box that helped us when we went back for the next round of funding.”
At the end of last year, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) approved another $9 million in funding for the project through its Active Transportation Program (ATP), which provides funding for new walking and biking projects for disadvantaged communities across California. To secure the funding, the city has to file a bunch of paperwork with the state. This is what Ellsmore calls “the paperwork phase” of the planning process.
“That process leads us to [around] October 1 when will actually receive the green light to say, ‘Okay, good. You can begin actual work on this project where you can be reimbursed or you can receive funding.’” he said. “We can’t do much right now [because] we don’t actually have funds. We’re just kind of in that planning process.”
Another piece of the project is a proposed roundabout on Myrtle Avenue, near those odd dome-shaped buildings at the McFarlan Street intersection, that would include an enhanced bike lane and create a connection point between neighborhoods.
Image via the City of Eureka. Click to enlarge.
It’s a little difficult to make out the details in the rendering above, but basically what you’re looking at is Myrtle Avenue going right down the center and McFarlan Street branching off to the left. That solid, dark grey line coming from the right is the proposed route of the trail. It would connect to a sidewalk (the speckled grey paths) surrounding the roundabout and either feed bicyclists into a bike lane on Myrtle Avenue or allow them to cross at the crosswalk to continue on the trail.
“It’s important to remember that these design plans are very preliminary,” Ellsmore said. “There’s a reason we don’t have roundabouts in Eureka. It’s because they require a large footprint and they typically start to encroach on properties. … In this case, we know we have the room and the footprint will work, but the final details are pretty rough. Until we get in there and actually design it, we’re not gonna know what it will look like.”
Once staff is given the green light on the design elements of the entire trail project, they’ll begin the permitting process and initiate conversations with property owners about access agreements and purchasing easements.
“That is one of the most important things because there’s a lot of folks that are that are interested and concerned about how the trail will affect them,” Ellsmore told the Outpost in a phone interview. “When we’re conceptually trying to figure out trails, we draw a line from the beginning to the end. … And then we start to drop in the property lines and get into more detailed levels of design. Once we have a likely route, we start to reach out to the nearby property owners and see if they’re interested in selling an easement for trail access.”
That process will probably take a couple of years but, once it’s complete, staff will refine the exact route and design of the trail, finalize the plan and put the project out to bid.
Construction of the trail is expected to cost around $10 million. The city is hoping to break ground in May of 2026.
Ellsmore briefly mentioned Eureka’s C Street Bike Boulevard project during last week’s meeting. The project would implement traffic calming elements and other bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements at busy intersections between Old Town and Harris Street.
“It would be a really, really cool improvement,” he said. “C Street is a pretty low-volume street but it’s also a great direct north-south connection through town. … It would have [curb extensions], improved crossings on some of the busier streets, like rapid flashing beacons, as well as some resurfacing.”
Caltrans earmarked another $2.3 million in ATP funds for the project. The design should be finished by the end of this year. Construction is expected to begin next summer.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
Humboldt County Correctional Deputies recovered over 17 grams of fentanyl from an inmate attempting to smuggle the substance into the facility.
Pole | Booking photo
On March 29, 2023, 30-year-old Halli Lee Pole was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on numerous warrant charges, including multiple charges of possession of a narcotic controlled substance.
Due to these charges and prior instances of Pole attempting to smuggle contraband into the facility, trained correctional deputies utilized the facility’s body scanner to check for illicit substances. Pole was found to be in possession of contraband and was placed in a single holding cell until the large quantity of fentanyl was recovered.
The involved correctional deputies are commended for their diligence and ultimate removal of this dangerous drug from our facility, their actions potentially saving several lives.
Not only is smuggling substances into correctional facilities a crime, it is also incredibly dangerous. It can and has led to death. The Humboldt County Correctional Facility regularly utilizes a body scanner, in addition to other methods, to detect and remove illegal substances from our facility.
Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.
