Betty Mae Yvonne Teasley, 96,
of Weott, passed away peacefully on October 4, 2022. Betty was born on
May 25, 1926 in Bandon, Oregon to Elmer and Juanita Snyder. In 1944,
Betty moved to Bull Creek, California where she met Twyman (Tom)
Teasley. Twyman and Betty were married in 1945 and resided in Bull
Creek and South Fork before moving to Weott and building their home
in 1955. In Weott, Betty attended Weott Christian Church where she
found a wonderful community of people.
Betty
worked for the US Postal service for 32 years.
She started working at the South Fork Post Office
and after
the 1964
flood she
moved to
the Redcrest
Post Office
where she
would retire as
the
Postmaster
in
1984.
Betty
was
an
avid
gardener
with
extensive
gardens
around
her
home,
which
she
would
spend many,
many hours
carefully tending.
She always
knew the
names of
all the
flowers she
encountered. This love of gardening was evident throughout her life.
She was a member of the Southern
Humboldt Garden
Club for
over 60
years and
she was
a founding
member of
the Humboldt
Rose
Society.
She
was
always
attending,
working,
and
showing
at
the
local
flower shows
and was
particularly fond
of the
flower show
held annually
in Weott.
She encouraged her
grandchildren, great
grandchildren, and
great-great grandchildren
to enter
flower arrangements at
the show.
In
addition to
gardening at
home, she
had gardens
in Pepperwood
where she
would grow flowers
and produce
to take
to the
Farmer’s Market
in Arcata.
She was
a staple
of the
Arcata Farmer’s Market starting in 1987. She was selling
fresh vegetables, fruit, and cut flowers until a couple
years ago.
Her big,
beautiful sunflowers
were a
favorite at
the market
Betty
truly
loved
to
travel
and
she
especially
enjoyed
traveling
to
see
gardens.
She
was
very fond of going
to Hawaii and halibut fishing in Alaska, especially with her friend
Velma Childs. In addition to traveling the US, she traveled to
Europe, Australia, South and Central America, and Southeast
Asia.
Betty
was preceded in death by her husband Twyman, her granddaughter
Shannan, her parents,
her
brothers
Fred
and
Ronald
(Bud),
and
sister
June.
Betty
is survived by her brother John Snyder of Gold Beach, OR and sister
Kay Armstrong of Bridgeville, her five children,
Garry of Athol,
Idaho, Grady (Lynn)
of Bayside, Cheryl
Rockwood of
Weott,
Gerry
(Kerry
Randall)
of
Potter
Valley,
and
Gregory
(D’Ann)
of
Weott.
She
is
also survived
by numerous
grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and
great-great-grandchildren.
Betty
was a genuinely kind and warm person who touched the lives of many
people. A celebration of her life will be held in the Spring when
the flowers are in bloom.
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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Betty Teasley’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.
Charles Edward Ptaschek was born October 21, 1947 in San Francisco. He died on November 5, 2022 in Eureka. He resided in Rio Dell since 1999. He had also lived in Eureka, Arcata, Happy Camp and numerous other places. Charley was very friendly with a deep love of people and made friends wherever he went.
Charley worked at Fortuna Motors as a parts man for over 25 years, again meeting and befriending many of his customers.
Charley was preceded in death by his first wife Sharon Ptaschek, his parents Pat and Betty Ptaschek.
Charley is survived by his second wife of 16 years Marilyn Ptaschek of Rio Dell. His daughter Sarah Ptaschek of Madison, Wisconsin. His son Michael Ptaschek and his wife Angelique, their five children: Trinity, Jocelyn, Austin, Savannah, Kira of Rio Dell. He is also survived by his extended family Keith and Shirley Condit and their children Katie, Tony, and Bethi, and their grandchildren. Anita Bones and her sons Phillip and Isaiah. Maylynda Bones and her children Ashton and Lyndon.
Charley loved music and he had a special group of friends that he enjoyed getting together with and playing music when they could.
Charley loved animals, and quickly fell in love with any new additions to their home.
Charley was baptised as one of Jehovah’s witnesses April 10, 1976. He enjoyed talking to people about his deep faith and Jehovah’s promises for the future. (Revelation 21:3,4) We look forward to welcoming Charley back in the resurrection to the paradise earth in the near future.
There will be a memorial service for Charley on December 10, 2022 at 1 p.m. at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 1475 Ross Hill Road, Fortuna. It will also be on zoom conference meeting ID: 981 6675 6918 password: 15602, with Steve Payetta officiating. The family would like to thank you for all your kind support through this difficult time.
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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Charley Ptaschek’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.
The Eureka City Council will, as always, tackle some exciting and important issues during tonight’s meeting, including a few items concerning the City’s water and sewer systems.
Homeowners have been freaking out on social media in recent weeks in response to proposed water and sewer tax hikes from the City of Eureka. The council will discuss the proposed rate increase during tonight’s meeting, but is not expected to make a decision on the matter as of yet.
Let’s take a look at that agenda!
Water and Wastewater Revenue Refunding Bonds
The council will start off tonight’s meeting with a request from staff to refinance a series of bonds related to the City’s Water and Wastewater funds.
In case you’re not aware (this reporter surely wasn’t), the City currently has four bonds, or debt obligations, related to the Water Fund and two bonds related to the Wastewater Fund. Each fiscal year, the City makes six separate principal and interest payments related to each bond. Since interest rates are lower than in years past, staff thought now would be a good time to refinance the City’s debt.
“This transaction is akin to a homeowner refinancing their mortgage for a lower rate/payment and it has no effect on the total debt owed by the City’s utilities,” Lane Millar, the City’s finance director, explained in an email to the Outpost. “The result of the two transactions is that the City will pay less in interest over the remaining life of the bonds. This will lower expenses in both the water and sewer funds.”
The City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) earlier this year to find a bank willing to refinance the City’s debt at a lower rate. Last month, the City selected Signature Bank as the best option for the Water Fund and California Bank and Trust for the Wastewater Fund.
If approved, the proposed transactions will save the City more than $814,000 in interest expenses over the next 20 years.
“When combined, the current debt service payments, less receipts, will result in net cash flows of $18,589,570 [for the Water Fund] during the period of 04/01/2023 to 06/30/2043,” according to the staff report. “The total savings of the proposed transaction is approximately $142,619 with present value of savings of $184,269. …The total savings of the proposed transaction is approximately $671,820 [for the Wastewater Fund] with present value of savings of $545,959.”
In the past, the City has issued bonds to fund major capital improvements for its water and wastewater systems. Millar noted that the staff is “not proposing to issue new debt in this case” but is instead “looking to lower the cost of the debt already incurred.”
The council will also receive a report on a recent water and sewer rate study during tonight’s meeting. The item is somewhat related to the aforementioned bond discussion, but the items will not directly impact one another, according to Millar.
“I hesitate to directly relate the refinancing to the rate study because I think they should be understood apart from one another,” he said. “What I mean [is], the interest savings are good, but they will occur between now and 2042. Since the rate study looks out five years, the refinancing will have no effect on the proposed rate changes.”
However, any effort to reduce costs to the water and sewer systems can reduce rate increases over the long run, he added.
Private Sewer Lateral Ordinance
The council will also consider a revision to the City’s Private Sewer Lateral Ordinance. The ordinance, adopted by the city council in 2019, shifted the responsibility of maintenance and repairs of the lower lateral – which is the sewer pipe connecting a property’s plumbing system to the public sewer main under the street – solely to the property owner.
Since the city adopted the ordinance, staff have reported ongoing issues with laterals not being replaced by property owners when they should be, largely due to the cost.
“The main hurdle has been the fact that replacement of the lower lateral requires a Class A contractor due to the insurance requirements of working in the City right-of-way,” the staff report states. “The number of Class A licensed contractors in our area is limited and owners were often having to hire two separate contractors to replace the upper and lower lateral. This increased the cost, complexity and duration of the process significantly.”
To alleviate this issue, staff proposed the implementation of a set fee and a point-of-sale trigger to “significantly accelerate the rate at which aging sewer laterals are replaced.”
“The sale trigger will increase the number of laterals replaced annually, helping to satisfy the City’s obligation to reduce wet weather flows,” the staff report continues. “The set fee, payable prior to closing, will allow sales to progress unimpeded, as timing is often critical in the sale of the property. The City would then aggregate the projects and bid them together as a single public works project.”
The fee amount would be based on the average City bid cost of lateral repair/replacement over the previous two years. Currently, the anticipated fee would fall under $10,000, the staff report says. Property owners who feel they can get a better deal through a private contractor will still have the ability to do so.
The council will also review another segment of the City’s proposed Coastal Land Use Plan during tonight’s meeting. Rather than bringing the entire proposal to the council for consideration in one go, staff decided to break the plan into several digestible chapters to present to the council through January.
This week’s installment will focus on land and aquatic resources. You can read more at this link.
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The Eureka City Council will meet on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m. at Eureka City Hall — 531 K Street. The agenda can be found here.
On November 19th 2020 a newborn baby was safely surrendered to Humboldt Bay Fire Station 1 on C St. in
Eureka. Since the inception of the Safe Surrender program for HBF in 2013, this was the first experience the
department had with activation of the protocol. All Humboldt Bay Fire Stations are designed as drop-off sites
for “safely surrendered babies.” The California Safely Surrendered Baby Law allows a parent or other
individual having lawful custody of a child 72 hours or younger to voluntarily surrender physical custody of
the child to any firefighter on duty at any of our stations. This may be done discretely without fear of
judgement or prosecution for child abandonment.
After the child was transported for further assessment to the hospital and entry into the county’s system, HBF
personnel did not know the outcome of the child’s story.
On Thursday November 10th 2022, nearly two years after the incident, the child surrendered that day paid a
visit to Station 1 with their newly adoptive parents. As luck would have it, when the visit was made the
firefighter who received the child that day was on duty in the administrative offices of Station 1 and was able
to meet the child, now nearly 2 years old, and their new family. The emotional visit was welcome closure to
the story as the child was healthy, happy, and greatly loved by their new family. Needless to say we at
Humboldt Bay Fire feel very privileged to have been apart of their story and know that we played a small part
in the wonderful outcome.
The success of this story only goes to prove the value of this program. The California Safe Surrender program
had a demonstrated history throughout out state in truly making a difference in the lives that it touches. Per
the California Department of Social Services website most recent information, From January 1, 2001 to
December 31, 2017, there were 931 newborns surrendered in California. This is compared with 164 infants
abandoned since 2001. Available data indicates a generally decreasing trend of abandonments since
enactment of the Law, from 25 cases in 2002 to five or fewer cases per year since 2010, representing a
decrease of at least 80%.
Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:
The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office has positively identified human remains discovered in the Bridgeville area as that of local missing woman Patricia Ribeiro.
On November 11, 2022, at about 1:10 p.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Center received a call regarding skeletal remains found by a resident near a private road located off of Highway 36 Milepost Marker 31.5. Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies and a deputy coroner responded to the scene and recovered the remains.
Foul play is not suspected at this time. An external examination of the remains is scheduled for Thursday, November 17.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office extends our deepest sympathies to Ribeiro’s family during this difficult time.
Because potential witnesses were canceled by mistake, the preliminary hearing for alleged child molester Gary Frankland Landergen was postponed this morning until next month.
Landergen.
Landergen, 57, is accused of molesting three teen-age girls while he was a coach and math teacher at Fortuna High School. His preliminary hearing was reset for Dec. 7 because it was thought the defense attorney, Conflict Counsel Meagan O’Connell, was in trial today in another courtroom.
“Witnesses were called off because it was believed Ms. O’Connell was still in trial,” Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm told Judge John Feeney this morning.
Landergen, who has been arrested twice and posted bail twice, was in court this morning with a friend. He was arrested in April after the alleged victims went to law enforcement. He posted bail of $35,000, but was taken into custody again weeks later when Judge Kelly Neel raised bail to $100,000. Landergen posted the remaining $65,000 and remains out of custody.
O’Connell said she would like the preliminary hearing held “as soon as possible.”
Another Fortuna resident, Sean Michael Allman, is scheduled for a hearing next week on whether he can receive mental health treatment instead of going to trial on charges of threatening eight members of a church youth group.
Allman.
Allman is scheduled for a Nov. 28 jury trial on charges of terrorizing or obstructing the exercise of religion and making threats of death or great bodily injury. But now defense attorneys Ben Okin and Andrea Sullivan have filed a petition asking Judge Christopher Wilson to place Allman on a so-called mental health diversion.
Under that program, if a defendant successfully completes treatment charges can be dismissed.
Allman was 18 back in June 2019, when he allegedly sent threatening messages to an Episcopal youth group planning to visit then-Humboldt State University. According to testimony at his preliminary hearing, Allman was obsessed with mass shootings.
Some of his text messages contained pictures of bloody people lying on the ground.
The hearing on the mental diversion option is set for Monday. Allman is out of custody but did not attend the hearing today.
Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm is the prosecutor.
Also today before Judge Wilson, defense attorney Owen Tipps said no report has been received from a doctor hired to re-evaluate murder suspect Austin Michael Medeiros.
Medeiros.
Medeiros, accused of murdering a young disabled woman, was initially deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial. After undergoing treatment and taking anti-psychotic medication, his competence was declared “restored.”
Tipps disagreed with that conclusion, saying at the last court hearing that Medeiros, 28, still suffers from delusions. Tipps’s request for a second competency evaluation was granted, with a different doctor, clinical psychologist Michael Morris, appointed.
His report was due today but has not materialized.
Wilson set the next hearing for Dec. 12.
Medeiros remains in custody but was not brought down from the jail to attend court.
Deputy District Attorney Candace Myers is the prosecutor.
On November 19th at noon The Redwood Unit of the Backcountry Horsemen of California will kick off
the holiday season with their annual Cowboy Canned Food Convoy. The horses and their riders will
parade through Old Town Eureka and pack their saddlebags with food donations to deliver to Food
for People. They will be making stops to pick up canned food items at Sailor’s Grave Tattoo, Chapala
Cafe, Good Relations, Humboldt Herbals, Booklegger, Ramone’s Bakery and Cafe, Ecocann
Dispensary, Old Town Coffee & Chocolates, Eureka Books, Belle Starr, and Los Bagels. The riders will
be joined by Cub Scout Pack 4047 out to Fortuna who will help collect donations along the way.
Please join us at 12pm on Saturday, November 19th in the parking lot at the foot of D St. to see The
Redwood Unit of the Backcountry Horsemen of California kick off Food for People’s Hunger Fighter
Challenge! The Hunger Fighter Challenge is a collaborative effort between local businesses, clubs,
and groups to collect donations of food and fund to help feed the community during the holidays.
The Redwood Unit will be the first Hunger Fighter team to have its donation weighed in—officially
kicking off the Holiday Food & Fund Drive. For more information on becoming a Hunger Fighter Team
visit foodforpeople.org/hunger-fighter-challenge.
