This week, Gang Green sits down with Caltrans’ Jeff Pimentel to discuss Caltrans’ work to improve Broadway for all road users (and not just motorists). Through fixing sidewalks, adding pedestrian crossings, and other changes to the road, we can influence individuals to make safer decisions.
Caltrans’ work on Broadway is also a reflection of larger cultural changes within the agency. Once almost solely focused on traffic speed, the agency has made great progress towards broadening its horizons to prioritize traffic safety and incorporate the interests of non-car road users. Progress!
One of the least popular topics in my industry is that of cannabis addiction. As a historically demonized industry attempts to redefine itself along the lines of health and wellness, the topic can be a real buzzkill and is often ignored, denied, or given minimal significance. While everyone knows that I grow professionally and advocate for safe, barrier-free medicinal cannabis access for all people worldwide, I like approximately ten percent of habitual users, develop a physical addiction to cannabis with excessive use.
In the context of mind-altering substances, addiction or “substance use disorder (SUD) is a complex condition in which there is uncontrolled use of a substance despite harmful consequences. People with SUD have an intense focus on using a certain substance(s) such as alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs, to the point where the person’s ability to function in day-to-day life becomes impaired. People keep using the substance even when they know it is causing or will cause problems.” Repeated substance use causes changes to the brain and impacts judgment, decision making, learning, memory, and behavioral control.
My history with pot is a storied one. When I began smoking at age 15, I was fascinated with it. An older buddy on the golf team sold trim joints for a buck apiece and I started smoking on the weekends with my two best friends. We would laugh hysterically and I remember food tasting so delicious when high! The first time we got baked we ate Stouffer’s pepperoni pizza and I thought I’d gone to heaven.
We soon graduated to smoking bud, the bubonic chronic out of Garberville, and some indoor trainwreck. Cannabis flowers were among the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. The color, the crystals, and the aroma really drew me in and a largely covetous long-term relationship was born.
My folks, children of the sixties and seventies found out we were smoking early on and offered me two pieces of advice – don’t get high at school and don’t drive stoned. In one ear and out the other. I was soon smoking every day and, because we had found a source for really killer stuff, I was tragically lit most of the time. I was generally so blazed that I couldn’t focus on schoolwork anymore. I had a hard time even reading a page out of a book without getting lost and my energy level fell apart.
I remember waking up trashed after a hard day of smoking. We called it being run down. Walking a round of golf took everything I had and teachers started asking me why I had become so inward. Known as a social extrovert, others were noticing a change in my behavior and were concerned. My solution to the developing problem was simple, power through and start smoking more so as to build a tolerance and better mask my altered state of mind. The process took about two years. My grades tanked after being a straight-A student, and I limped through senior year, adding copious amounts of alcohol and LSD to my cannabis regime. Not highly recommended for the developing brain or emotional stability!
I took two years off school to work and entered college at age 20, just after my marriage. By then my tolerance had improved and I excelled academically and socially once again. I was high all the time but participated in class, got all A’s, gave regular oral presentations, and was a leader on group projects. All was well until I stopped smoking for the first time in years.
We were taking a trip to my sister’s wedding and my wife pleaded with me not to take any weed as she didn’t want me stinking at the ceremony. I was nervous when we left town and smoked heavily before leaving. When we arrived in Davis about five hours later, I was starting to feel off. Anxiety was building and I was beginning to feel nauseous. I couldn’t sleep that night and felt really caged up. The next day got really gnarly. My nausea and anxiety continued to build and I looked like hell. I survived the wedding, but couldn’t eat at the reception or tolerate the crowd.
I didn’t sleep for a second night and demanded we head home a day early. Social stimulation was overwhelming and I vomited several times on the way home. I limped into town and ran out to the shed and smoked heavily. I was shaky and had hot and cold flashes. I showered, smoked again, and was able to start sipping water after another hour. I had shed nearly ten pounds in three days, was awake for nearly the whole time, and had circles under my eyes. Back on the smoke, I “normalized” quickly and went about life as before – high all the time and excelling outwardly.
Fast forward another five years and I experienced a similar episode. I had just received my MBA and was entering my profession as a financial advisor. I decided to stop smoking for fear of stigma, so I set down my pipe and saddled up for the next chapter of my life. I experienced the same outcome. I didn’t sleep for the first 48 hours, was overwhelmed by nausea and anxiety, and dropped ten pounds in several days. It took me about a week to feel normal and I struggled with nightmares for several months after quitting.
I was cannabis-free for three years and began smoking again at age 30. Given my prior experiences, I treaded lightly. Rather than smoking all the time, I began using casually – once a day versus 8-10 heavy sessions like in years past. Interestingly, with more moderate intake my body didn’t develop the same physical response. I could decide not to use on weekends when around the family and things were well. I could eat and sleep and not experience any other side effects.
After mom’s death five years later and a serious hip injury, I started smoking constantly – perhaps trying to hide from the sadness and pain, or perhaps so I could work through those emotions. After a few years of heavy use, I decided to quit again. I experienced another very challenging withdrawal with the same symptoms. Perhaps due to age, it took approximately two weeks to leave the anxiety behind and feel normal again.
As a result of these experiences, I make a conscious effort to consume minimally nowadays. I’ll occasionally take one puff of my favorite live resin cartridges or one ten milligram ice hash gummy and enjoy the experience. Rather than using out of necessity or as an escape or survival mechanism, I now use cannabis for enhanced sensory experiences, to center myself spiritually and emotionally, or to alter my perspective around a challenging situation or decision. An occasional mind and body-altering experience is rewarding and something I quite enjoy.
The literature on cannabis addiction is growing. It’s estimated that approximately 10% of habitual users become dependent on cannabis. For those who start consuming in adolescence or youth, the number increases to 17%. Cannabis addiction is associated with heavy use, some citing daily intake of four to five joints. Addiction, or cannabis use disorder is exemplified by using more cannabis than intended, failed attempts to quit using, using even though it causes problems at home, school or work, or using despite social or relationship problems. Other signs of addiction include cravings, increasing dosage to achieve the same high, and experiencing withdrawal symptoms when stopping use.
If you are struggling with perceived cannabis addiction, stopping cold turkey is one method, but can be challenging and highly disruptive. I recommend backing down your use for a period of two weeks before quitting altogether. For example, if you are orally ingesting 300 mg of THC per day as I used to, dropping that to 200, then 100, then 50 will be easier on your system. If you find yourself unable to successfully ween yourself off, then biting the bullet, quitting at once, and experiencing several days of discomfort is the path.
If you are a heavy smoker, transitioning to edibles for a week or two can help break your habitual/ritualistic smoking habit and improve the chances of your success. I find taking Golden Slumber tea from Humboldt Herbals coupled with melatonin gummies for a few days can soften the anxiety and help you get some needed rest as your body transitions to a new normal.
While most cannabis users can smoke as much as they want as often as they want and never experience any ill effects, others simply don’t have that luxury. And while cannabis addiction is obviously much less serious than being addicted to alcohol, opiates, or hard drugs, it is real nonetheless. As we seek to professionalize our industry and normalize use, conversations around cannabis addiction must be part of the process. By openly acknowledging this reality and helping consumers address the issue without fear or judgment, we show compassion and strengthen our hand as a loving industry dedicated to saving and improving lives.
Despite having a somewhat challenging relationship with cannabis at times, I’m proud of what I do for a living and I love smoking weed…I honestly wish I could do it all the time, yet now understand this isn’t the best option for me. I believe cannabis is a path to personal enlightenment and improved interpersonal relationships. I believe it enhances our love for people and for the natural world. I find that cannabis makes people nicer and allows us to live with less stress and more appreciation and thankfulness. I wouldn’t change my path for anything and instead, believe that my personal experience allows me to be an even greater advocate for the plant we love.
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Jesse Duncan is a lifelong Humboldt County resident, a father of six, a retired financial advisor, and a full-time commercial cannabis grower. He is also the creator of NorCal Financial and Cannabis Consulting, a no-cost platform that helps small farmers improve their cultivation, business, and financial skills. Please check out his blog at, his Instagram at jesse_duncann, and connect with him on Linkedin.
Annie’s Cambodian on Fifth Street in Eureka. | Google Street View.
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For more than 11 years the small, unassuming restaurant Annie’s Cambodian Cuisine – located on 101 North (Fifth Street) between U and T Streets in Eureka – has been a favorite of locals, who flock there for the delicious grub and friendly service. Now this beloved business may be in trouble after plans were submitted to the City to demolish the Annie’s building to make way for a drive-through restaurant.
A Development Project Referral – sent to the Outpost earlier this week by Eureka City Manger Miles Slattery – includes development plans for the three adjoining parcels at 1906 Fourth Street, which holds a now-closed Subway Sandwiches, and 1905 Fifth Street, which holds Annie’s and a now closed Sizzler.
The project proposal – submitted by applicant Humboldt QOZ Fund, LLC on Feb. 14 – includes plans to demolish the three existing restaurant buildings and build a Starbucks, plus an as-yet-unnamed restaurant in their place. The two parcels holding Annie’s and Sizzler would be combined into one parcel and a 1,805 foot restaurant would be built on the site. A 1,000 square foot Starbucks would be built on the site that currently holds Subway. Both restaurants would include a parking lot and drive-through.
Site plans for a drive-through Starbucks in place of the Subway and another drive-through restuarant in place of Annie’s and Sizzler | Images from the City of Eureka
Reached by phone on Friday afternoon, Annie’s co-owner Laura Chau-Yang said she did not wish to comment at this time. But it did seem like any plans to demolish the building came as an unpleasant surprise to Chau-Yang.
It’s also not totally clear how long it will be before demolition or building would take place, but it will likely take a while. Slattery told the Outpost that the project referral was sent to the local regulatory agencies, which will have until March 1 to bring up any issues with the project. If there are no issues, the applicant will then need to submit all the necessary permits, including a demolition and building permit, and will need to submit building and design plans for approval before construction can begin.
Slattery did not know yet what the drive-through restaurant might be that would replace Annie’s. But he did say that the City would be more than willing to help the owners to find a new space, so that Annie’s Cambodian Cuisine can continue to serve the community.
The EaRTH Center gateway, pictured in a slide presented at the Feb. 9 Eureka City Council meeting.
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The Eureka City Council will return to the contentious topic of parking lots next week and consider the reduction or removal of two city-owned parking lots on Third Street between G and H streets, behind Lost Coast Brewery, from the city’s Parking Assessment District (PAD) to make way for the recently approved EaRTH Center.
As detailed in the agenda summary, the PAD was created in 1954 and encompassed most of the city’s central business
district. “During that time, the city council approved issuance of bonds for the acquisition
and construction of off-street parking facilities, and in 1955, a bond was formally issued
and the City began to acquire and develop parking lots.”
Several parking lots were constructed with the bond funds and in 1964, after eight lots were developed, the bonds were retired.
The PAD is no longer collecting assessments. However, any lot funded by the PAD must go through a public hearing process to allow for the lot to be reduced or removed by a developer.
Many downtown business owners have spoken against the development of the lot over concerns about downtown parking capacity. However, data developed in the city’s recent parking study didn’t indicate that parking is at crisis levels. As previously reported by the Outpost, in 2019 — before COVID — 13 public lots in the Old Town and downtown areas, none of which are proposed for development, had about 50 percent of their spaces available throughout the day.
The EaRTH Center – a near-acronym for Eureka Regional Transit & Housing Center – will contain an intermodal transit center and at least 31 dwelling units, with 27 of them designated for low-, very-low- and moderate-income tenants. It will have an interior courtyard, rooftop greenspace, a space for food trucks and room for new retail establishments. It is slated for completion in the fall of 2024.
The Eureka City Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 1 at 6 p.m. The agenda can be found here.
UPDATE: After this story was published, Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez suggested that the Attorney General’s letter may have been sent in error, or perhaps as a result of an automatic, calendar-based notification process that ignored the specifics of the local situation.
The reasoning behind this theory, offered by Paz Dominguez, was that the letter was sent on behalf of the State Controller’s Office, an agency that recently sent an audit team to Humboldt County to conduct an investigation into the county’s financial reporting practices. That team has yet to issue its report, and Paz Dominguez said she was under the impression that the report will include instructions on how to proceed with filing the delinquent report.
On March 2, we got some clarification from Jennifer Hanson, press secretary for the State Controller’s Office. She told the Outpost via email:
The State Controller’s audits team is conducting a review to determine whether the county’s inability to submit timely financial reports is due to a lack of internal controls. This review does not excuse the county from its responsibility for timely filing of required reports. The letter from the Attorney General was not sent in error. It was sent at the request of the State Controller.
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Original post:
Humboldt County Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez. | Screenshot from a September meeting.
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The California Attorney General’s Office on Thursday issued a final demand letter to Humboldt County Auditor-Controller Karen Paz Dominguez, threatening legal action for her failure to submit the county’s 2019/20 Financial Transactions Report (FTR), which is now more than a year overdue.
The demand letter, signed by Deputy Attorney General Julianne Mossler and addressed to Paz Dominguez personally, says the A.G.’s Office was called in by the State Controller’s Office, which launched an investigation in December into the county’s financial practices and reporting. That investigation was initiated because of this same overdue financial report.
It’s not clear whether the State Controller’s Office has completed its investigation. Paz Dominguez told the Outpost earlier today, coincidentally, that she and her staff haven’t heard from the investigation team in a few weeks, “but they may be working with other departments. Can’t say for sure,” she said in a text.
According to the demand letter, the State Controller’s Office made several attempts over the past year to compel Paz Dominguez to submit the report, which is a state-mandated audit of the county’s financial transactions from the preceding fiscal year.
The first attempt came via a letter sent February 26, 2021, in which the State Controller’s Office advised Paz Dominguez that the report was delinquent and gave her an additional 20 days to reply. The county did not respond and failed to meet the March 18 deadline, according to Mossler’s letter.
The State Controller’s Office followed up with an email on June 1, and Mossler tells Paz Dominguez, “You responded on June 14, 2021, stating that the County’s audit for FY 2019/2020 was
underway, but not yet complete.”
She continues:
You offered to complete the report using unaudited
information, and indicated it would take two weeks. The SCO [State Controller’s Office] agreed that you could use
unaudited information and SCO would still accept the report in the agreed upon two week
timeframe. On June 21, 2021, you informed the SCO that the data was collected and being
processed, and completion of the report was an “urgent priority.” You have never submitted the
report.
It’s now eight months later, and Mossler says the county is now delinquent in submitting its 2020/21 financial transaction report, too. It was due on January 31.
“At this point,” Mossler tells Paz Dominguez, “the SCO is prepared to exercise all of its authority under Government Code
53895 to request the Attorney General to prosecute an action for forfeiture, and any other
remedies afforded under the law.”
That code section says the state can charge Paz Dominguez $5,000 for failing to submit the financial transactions report within 20 days of receiving written notice that it’s overdue.
Earlier this month, Caltrans sanctioned the county and froze all federal and state reimbursement for new transportation-related projects as a result of the county’s delinquent financial reporting. Just this week, the state’s Employment Development Department placed about $3.5 million in Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding on hold until the county submits its 2019/20 single audit, according to Economic Development Director Scott Adair.
First 5 Humboldt, an independent local government agency providing early childhood development services, is in the process of withdrawing its finances from county management. First 5 Executive Director Mary Ann Hansen told the Board of Supervisors in December that, for the first time ever, she’d been forced to request an extension from the State Controller’s Office for submitting First 5’s year-end audit. The delay was caused by the Auditor-Controller’s Office’s failure to perform its mandated accounting and oversight services, according to First 5’s independent auditor.
After obtaining a copy of the Attorney General’s Office letter this afternoon we reached out for comment from Paz Dominguez. She responded via text, saying she was in a meeting. We’ll update this post if we hear back from her before day’s end.
UPDATE: After this post was published, Paz Dominguez emailed the following press release:
Dear Taxpayers of Humboldt County,
The role of an elected official is easy to understand: to fulfill the duties they have been assigned in a manner which serves the best interests of the public. In the case of the Elected Auditor-Controller, the successful fulfillment of those duties is not up to the Auditor-Controller alone but relies on the good governance of the collective Board of Supervisors, the just administration of the County Administrative Office, the wise judgment of its County Counsel, and the responsible performance of County Department Heads. More importantly, it relies on all of these bodies working together toward a clear and shared goal of serving the best interests of the public it governs.
When a County does not have a clear and shared goal that is agreed upon by its Board of Supervisors and leadership body (and when the fear of responsibility and accountability is made legitimate by irresponsible reporting and sensationalism), confusion and dysfunction can quickly devolve into power struggles, political hits, and scapegoating of responsibility – all at the expense of taxpayers. When the conflict involves the management of public funds and the reporting of that management, the attacks can become personal, coordinated, and reckless – again, all at the expense of taxpayers.
The County of Humboldt, as an organization, has not completed timely or accurately, several of its various centralized and decentralized financial reports. The long-term decentralization of financial and accounting operations has resulted in decades-long patterns of misfilings, misinformation, and misreporting which have throughout the years resulted in penalties, returned funding, and have paved the way for confirmed cases of errors and fraud. The inter-personal relationships of County officials have yielded both great, innovative ideas that have benefited the County and they have also led to inhumane conditions for County employees and coverups under the guise of confidentiality.
Today, the buck stops here. The County of Humboldt, as a government organization, is not okay. The now decades-long power struggles, unethical exploitation of “friendships”, in-fighting, and scapegoating are coming to a head and action must be taken. It has become painfully clear to me that “working within the system” and shielded from the public’s view will not yield the desired results of transparency, accountability, or integrity. The County’s failure to take seriously the function and authority of its Elected Office of the Auditor-Controller is now raising the stakes for me to take direct action.
A letter from the State Attorney General has been delivered to the County addressed to me demanding that action be taken. It is no longer prudent for me to wait for the results of nonexistent investigations or publicly announced audit reports that have yet to be issued to convince this County to respect the authority of the public that elected an independent Auditor-Controller or to inform the public of what is happening in its county government. And while this County has grown accustomed to being sued or threatened by State Agencies for the actions (or lack of action) by its County Departments, I will not be as complacent.
The only way out of this long-term dysfunction is to responsibly inform the public of the inadequate financial operations of the County and take ownership and responsibility for the active efforts toward resolution. In the absence of leadership, one must become the leader.
On Tuesday, March 1, 2022, at the regularly-scheduled 9 am meeting of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, I will be presenting a report of my findings on the financial transactions, operations, and reporting practices of the County of Humboldt from my perspective as its Chief Accounting Officer and independently elected Auditor-Controller. I will also be discussing with the Board the status of the County’s audits. The meeting will be in person, live-streamed, and recorded. Please attend.
I write this to you today as a humbled public servant free from undue influence with no request of you other than to participate in Tuesday’s board meeting. Should you believe that the dysfunction of which I speak is new and/or unheard of in this County’s past, I invite you to read this 1997 North Coast Journal article titled “The New Majority” which can be found online at this link: https://www.northcoastjournal.com/may97/5-97.cvrstry.html
1st District Supervisor, Rex Bohn: rbohn@co.humboldt.ca.us 2nd District Supervisor, Michelle Bushnell: mbushnell@co.humboldt.ca.us 3rd District Supervisor, Mike Wilson: mike.wilson@co.humboldt.ca.us 4th District Supervisor, Virginia Bass: vbass@co.humboldt.ca.us 5th District Supervisor, Steve Madrone: smadrone@co.humboldt.ca.us
Food for People’s Executive Director Anne Holcomb stands outside of the new Eureka Choice Pantry Location at 1720 10th Street, Eureka.
Food for People release:
Food for People’s Eureka Choice Pantry is relocating to 1720 10th St, located directly adjacent to the
Cooper Gulch Fields and the Eureka skate park. The existing location at 2112 Broadway will close as of
Friday March 25th and no food pantry services will be available that day. The food pantry will reopen in
its new location on Tuesday March 29th . The hours of operation will be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday
of each week from 11am to 3pm (closed 12:30-1pm for lunch). In the new location, Food for People will
implement an order-ahead model as a new benefit to pantry users. Please contact pantry staff at
(707)407-0447 for details or to make an appointment. For those traveling by bus, the Eureka Transit
System’s Purple Route stops at the Burre Center located a quarter mile from the new pantry location.
Here there be food… for people!
The relocation of the Eureka Food Pantry has been necessitated by the delay in construction of Food for
People’s main site. Food for People is in the process of rebuilding their facility following the sewer
inundation that occurred in February of 2020. Due to delays in construction caused by the pandemic and
supply shortages, a more stable and long term option is needed to house Food for People’s Eureka food
pantry that serves more than 1,000 community members each month.
After long delays, construction
materials have been secured and construction of the new food bank is slated to begin in the next
month, which should provide the pantry a permanent location by 2023. You can help Food for People
rebuild a facility that will ensure every person experiencing hunger in Humboldt County can access
nutritious foods into the future by making a donation at www.rebuildfoodforpeople.org.
On February 24, 2022 a Humboldt County jury reached verdicts in the David Lee Dues trial. The
jury found 34 year old Dues guilty of felony false imprisonment and indecent exposure and found
him not guilty of assault with intent to commit sexual assault.
Evidence presented at trial showed that on November 1, 2020 at about 10:15 p.m., the defendant
entered the Fortuna Launderland as the lone occupant of the business, an employee in her 50s,
was closing up. The defendant proceeded to lunge for her feet and chased her into a back office.
There the defendant exposed himself and continued his assault until the employee successfully
fought him off. The defendant fled the scene, but Fortuna Police officers located him at the bus
stop near Launderland the following morning. The jury also heard evidence of Dues’ prior conduct,
including a similar assault from 2008 where the defendant threatened to rape another woman and
testimony about voicemails the defendant left for his mother, also threatening to rape her. Both
the Launderland employee and the survivor of the 2008 assault testified at trial.
Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Schaffer prosecuted the case with the assistance of District
Attorney Investigator Ryan Hill and Victim Witness Advocate Caitlyn LaHaie. Deputy Public
Defenders Ben McLaughlin and Kylie Boyd represented Mr. Dues. Judge Christopher G. Wilson
presided over the case.
Mr. Dues is scheduled to be sentenced on March 22, 2022.
