From the Humboldt County Drug Task Force:
On 05-15-2012 at about 0845 hours the Humboldt County Drug Task Force served a search warrant at a residence located in the 800 block of Herrick Avenue, Eureka near the Pine Hill Elementary School. Agents located a sophisticated indoor marijuana growing operation in the residence. Agents detained two subjects who they identified as Christopher Edwin Roman age 32 and his girlfriend, Christinia Michelle Senzig age 22. Agents seized 863 growing marijuana plants from the residence that ranged in size from 4 inches to 3 feet in height. Agents seized 53 pounds of dried marijuana.
Agents located LSD in the residence along with what appeared to be psilocybin mushrooms. Agents located evidence for a butane hash lab in the residence. Agents located two composite knuckles , which are commonly referred to as (brass knuckles) for fighting. Agents located two explosive type devices in the bedroom. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Disposal Unit responded to the residence to investigate those two devices. Agents and the two subjects that were detained left the residence until the Bomb Disposal Unit responded. At no time were the surrounding neighbors in any danger. The Sheriff’s Office Bomb Disposal Unit took custody of the two devices and transported them out of the area to be destroyed at a later time.
Agents noticed a possible fire hazard with electrical wiring associated with the indoor marijuana growing operation. Agents then contacted Humboldt County Building and Planning Department, who then responded to the residence. After Humboldt County Building and Planning Department inspected the electrical wiring they determined that it was a possible fire hazard. Humboldt County Building and Planning Department then contacted PG&E to have the electrical power shut off to the residence.
Roman was arrested for cultivation and possession for sales of marijuana, possession of a dangerous weapon, possession of LSD, possession of psilocybin mushrooms, possession of destruction devices and for the manufacturing of a hash lab. Roman’s bail was set at $500,000 dollars.
Senzig was arrested for cultivation and possession for sales of marijuana her bail was set at $25,000 dollars.
More Local Crime: Redway Man Stabbed 15 Times
From the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office:
On 05-13-2012, at approximately 4:00 a.m. the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office received a call regarding threats being made from Shawn Hass. Deputies responded to the Brass Rail Motel, 3400 Block of Redway Drive, Redway to meet with Hass.
When the deputies arrived they saw two males standing in the motel parking lot. One of the males, who was later identified as Shawn Patrick Hass, 35 years old, a transient, spontaneously told the deputies, “ I just stabbed him ” while pointing to another male who was sitting in a lawn chair being attended to by a female. Deputies saw Hass’ shirt had blood covering the front of it. Hass was immediately detained while the deputies called for medical assistance for the injured male in the lawn chair. Deputies saw the injured 22 year old male from Redway, had a deep neck wound and later learned he had approximately 15 stab wounds to his chest, shoulder, neck, throat, cheek, back and thigh. The victim was unable to give a statement due to the extent of his injuries.
When deputies interviewed Hass he told them he called the Sheriff’s office because he was sleeping in his van on Empire Street, Redway when someone verbally threatened him regarding where he parked his van. At one point during the confrontation he and the person threatening him got into a brief struggle. He told the deputies he, (Hass) had a knife in his van which he used to fend the attacker off. Hass drove his van a short distance away, but the person kept coming after him. He drove to the Brass Rail Motel and exited his van to use the telephone at the hotel to call law enforcement. While at the motel, the victim was standing in an upstairs in a hallway and leaned over the railing and asked Hass if he was stalking his female friend. Words were exchanged and they got into a physical fight. Hass admitted to stabbing the victim during the fight and claimed it was self defense. Hass was uninjured.
Deputies recovered a throwing type knife, approximately nine inches long at the scene which was believed to be the assault weapon.
The victim was airlifted to an out of area hospital for treatment. He is currently in “fair condition” and still hospitalized. Hass was arrested for attempted murder and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility. His bail was set at $500,000.00. The case is still under investigation by Sheriff’s Detectives.
More local crime: Yes! Eureka Car Burglars Caught!
Now can you guys get all my CDs back from the last time this happened to me?! Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office:
On 05-12-2012, approximately 2:30 p.m. the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office received a call from a citizen advising they just witnessed a vehicle broken into in the area of Ma’Lel Dunes, Manila. The citizen who wished to remain anonymous, was able to provide a description of the vehicle to responding deputies. The suspect vehicle was described as a, “Reddish/Pink” Dodge Neon with two white males in the vehicle.
A responding deputy saw a vehicle matching that description pass him on the Samoa Bridge near Woodley Island exit, Eureka. The deputy turned around on the vehicle, but lost sight of it near 4th and R Street, Eureka. The deputy searched the vicinity and saw the vehicle parked at gas station at 4th and R Street. When the deputy approached the vehicle, the passenger exited the car and took off running. The deputy gave chase and caught the passenger who was identified as Arlen Troy Brown, 28 years old from Eureka. Brown had an outstanding no bail felony warrant for probation violation. Brown was taken into custody on that warrant. Deputies located a stolen credit card in Browns pocket. Deputies searched the Neon and located several backpacks, camping gear, a cell phone, and an ice chest. Deputies were able to locate the vehicle the items were stolen from at the beach and its owner, who identified the stolen property. Deputies located at least one other vehicle that was broken into at the same location. The suspects broke into the vehicles by smashing the windows. Deputies arrested Brown for burglary, possession of stolen property, probation violations and resisting arrest, besides the warrant. The driver of the Neon was identified as Jedediah Charles Hiller, 32 years old from McKinleyville. He was arrested for burglary and possession of stolen property. Both Brown and Hiller were booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility. Brown is being held without bail, Hiller’s bail was set at $50,000.00.
Citizens are reminded to always lock their vehicles and not leave valuables in plain sight or in their vehicle when visiting local recreational areas such as beaches and trail heads.
Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum's MV Madaket, launched in 1910, took her first cruise of the season today, with the full cruise season starting on May 19. 75-minute narrated cruises will run from the C Street Dock--call 445 1910 for times and details.
Cruises over Mother's Day weekend (May 11, 12 and 13) depart at 1.00 and 2.30 pm.
Deckhands Holly Sisson and Tiffany McKenzie; Captain Cody Hills; First Mate Dalene Zerlang; and Captain Steve Holz.
Below, Capt. Cody with ship's dog Dixie.
Now it's on: The struggle for control of the Democratic Party in Humboldt County has officially gone ballistic.
Two weeks ago we reported on an ideological rift in the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee -- a schism between liberal Democrats such as Eureka City Councilwoman Linda Atkins and her more conservative nemeses.
We assumed the showdown would take place at the ballot box on June 5, when eight candidates -- four from each camp -- vie for just four available seats in the committee's fourth district. Turns out Atkins couldn't wait that long.
At last night's central committee meeting, Atkins introduced a resolution to remove her opponents, most of whom have just recently become associate members. Namely she sought to oust fellow Eureka councilmembers Marian Brady and Melinda Ciarabellini, Humboldt County Supervisor Virginia Bass, Harbor District Commissioner Richard Marks and his wife, Robin. [Update, 2:15 p.m.: Marks just called to say that his wife has not endorsed Bohn. He's not sure why her name is listed on Bohn's website, but he's working to get it removed.]
On what grounds? All five [four, says Marks] have publicly endorsed Rex Bohn for First District Supervisor. The committee, meanwhile, has officially endorsed Cheryl Seidner, the lone Democrat in the race. (Bohn is now registered independent, though he was a Republican as recently as June of last year.) In a ballsy move, Brady even turned up at the meeting wearing a "Rex Bohn for Supervisor" hoodie.
Turns out this is a violation of committee bylaws (pdf here), which allow for the removal of any committee member "publicly advocating that voters should not vote for the Democratic endorsee for any office ... ."
Atkins stood at the front of the room, reading her resolution while the committee, including Brady and Bass (along with her husband, Matthew Owen), followed along on print-outs provided by Atkins. It was a bold and aggressive move, and it appeared to throw her intended targets off guard -- along with most everyone else.
Awkward moment: Brady, in her Rex Bohn hoodie, stands up to give Atkins back her seat. Atkins had just moved to have Brady and others kicked off the committee.
The resolution sent the meeting into procedural chaos. Committee Chair Milt Boyd explained that in order to consider a special resolution introduced at the same meeting, the committee first had to bypass standard voting procedures, and to do that they needed approval from two-thirds of the committee. In other words, 12 of the 18 voting members present had to agree to consider the resolution before they could even talk about ousting Brady, Bass, Ciarabellini and the Markses.
It didn't get that far. After several minutes of cross-talk, head-scratching and points of order, only 10 members voted to consider the resolution -- two shy of the number needed. Confusion was largely to blame. After the meeting, several members admitted that they weren't sure exactly what they were voting on. Another said she would have voted yes but had "nodded off."
This doesn't mean that Atkins' resolution has failed; it's merely been delayed. It will be put on the agenda for the next scheduled committee meeting, which won't take place until June 13, eight days after the election. (If the committee had agreed last night to consider the resolution, the vote on removal would have taken place at a special meeting on May 30.)
This could potentially set up an even stranger scenario: There's a good chance that at least one of the four more conservative candidates will win a voting position on the committee on Election Day. If that happens, Atkins said, the next committee vote will determine whether or not the insurgent victor(s) can be seated. This is political hardball at its fiercest.
After the meeting, Bass said she agreed to endorse Bohn a year and a half ago, "long before" she decided to run for a seat on the committee. She won't take back that endorsement now. Bass alleged that the committee has not been consistent with its application of the bylaws, and she said Atkins' resolution "seems contrived." She also questioned whether the committee's bylaws are consistent with others in the state.
Brady left the meeting before we could ask for her response.
Atkins said she'd written up the resolution the previous night after she learned that a TV commercial for the Bohn campaign was touting the endorsements of Democratic committee members. This issue, she said, goes to the heart of the committee's mission.
More local politics: District Soup
As you may have read elsewhere (LoCO, TS), Kirk Girard, the embattled director of community development services for Humboldt County, has resigned. After some bruising years out in front of the county's General Plan update, Girard had his department cut in half by the Board of Supervisors two months ago. That's apparently when he started job hunting.
Girard, who was hired by the county in 1997, was slated to lead a smaller division overseeing economic development and natural resources. Instead he'll head to Santa Clara County, where he's been hired as the planning manager. His last day with Humboldt County will be June 8.
Previously: Why Do People Hate Kirk Girard?
You've undoubtedly heard that the famous director M. Night Shyamalan was in Humboldt recently making a movie called After Earth with the famous actor Will Smith and his son Jaden. You may have read, in passing, about the director's visit with a group of young, local filmmakers. Here's the inside story on that close encounter, written by one of the students, Ciara Cheli-Colando.
This last Tuesday, the Eureka G.U.L.C.H. Teen Filmmaking class received unexpected guests: M. Night Shyamalan, with his wife and daughter. Shyamalan has written and directed major motion pictures including The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Last Airbender and The Village. He had just finished a day's shoot in Southern Humboldt, and he came and spoke with us for about 45 minutes at the invitation of our teacher, Nathan Davis-Floyd, before having dinner with his family.
Classmate Skylar Anderson asked the director how he had gotten from being where we are to where he is now. In response, Shyamalan shared successes and flops he'd encountered along the way, such as the time he sold two screenplays at once and had to choose which one to make, that his first movie in India closed two weeks after it opened, and told us of his antagonistic first meeting with Leonardo DiCaprio, which later led to a good friendship.
I asked Shyamalan what inspired him to write. He answered, "Writing is a form of empowerment for me. I don't like to be a victim." By writing, he empowers himself to continue. (And shouldn't we all?)
Shyamalan spoke about Labor of Love, which he said was a love story to his wife that was sold to 20th Century Fox, but was never made. The director said that he often writes about himself, and that his wife appears in many of his stories. His wife, Bhavna Vaswani, interjected, "In which he often kills me off..."
Shyamalan used the G.U.L.C.H. classroom as an example to verbalize how he thinks when he is directing. He rattled off the physical attributes of the room and how they would affect his shooting, e.g. the color of the walls in relation to costumes, and placement of characters in relation to the plot.
He spoke about the responsibilities of directing: about working with Jaden Smith, and tracking the length of the day in relation to child labor laws, and when to listen to the DP (Director of Photography) about lighting issues, and when to just keep rolling. He also spoke about having final cut, which is the authority of a director to make the ultimate decision regarding any aspects of a film.
above: Mr. Shyamalan with the filmmaking class, the Fresh Voices singers and G.U.L.C.H. staff.
Just getting to meet such a highly respected director was an incredibly valuable experience, but even more so was getting to speak with and ask questions of that director. What Shyamalan did was very generous, and I believe will inspire us to reach farther, dream bigger, and keep on writing. As G.U.L.C.H. coordinator Brian Millet said, "This was a once in a life time opportunity for these teens who are aspiring writers and filmmakers, to be able to pick the brain of somebody who has achieved the ultimate level of success... The fact that we were able to surprise the teens made the whole experience even better."
Our filmmaking class is made up of nine teens ages 12-17 who are learning to script, direct, shoot and edit our own short films. We come from McKinleyville, Arcata and Eureka High Schools, NPA and St. Mary's, and home-schools. Some of us are making movies for the first time, while some are well versed in the process and are ready to branch out into more advanced editing and effects techniques. Under the instruction of Nathan and Brian, we are creating our own 90-second vignettes reflecting the lives of today's teens. Our vignettes will be strung together to create a portrait of modern teenagers today. For more info on Growing Unity, Leadership, Community and Health (G.U.L.C.H.) workshops and programs, call 441-4240 or visit facebook.com/gulchteenprogram.
- Ciara Cheli-Colando (on far right)
Press release from the Eureka Police Department:
On 5-4-2012 at about 1:10 am, an officer of the Eureka Police Department conducted a traffic enforcement stop at the 600 block of Broadway on a silver van for unsafe speed.
Upon contacting the driver, the officer observed several objective signs of the driver being under the influence. The driver, identified as Joshua James Mellinger (23 years old of Berkley, California), was evaluated and eventually taken into custody for driving under the influence.
As a result of an incident to arrest search, the officer located an illegal weapon concealed in the vehicle and also nearly $40,000 in cash. Based on the investigation, totality of the circumstances, and evidence, the cash was believed to be implements of illicit drug activities.
Mellinger was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility, where he was booked for driving under the influence and possession of an illegal weapon. He was being held on $50,000 bail, however Mellinger bailed out of jail later that day.
Sailors, merchants, workerbees, all: Stuff your ears with bees wax or tie thee to the mast of your sane life, because here comes The Siren's Song.
OK, you've got a few months before the "danger" arises. By August, business partners Phyllis Barba and Nathan Swenson hope to open their new tavern, The Siren's Song, on the bottom floor of that brick beauty in Old Town Eureka known originally as the Healy Brothers Building, on 2nd Street between D and E. Prior to a long hiatus that culminated in 2010 with a jarring earthquake, the 1908 structure housed the Old Town Bar & Grill. The building was doomed for demolition after the quake, until Kurt Kramer and his Kramer Investment Corporation bought it. Old Town regulars have watched and waited for more than two years as the building was gutted and rebuilt.
The work continues. But new planters have emerged on one side. New windows have been installed. And now an ABC license application to sell beer has been posted in a window -- signs of the first tenant.
Barba, reached today by phone at Accident Gallery where she's part owner, said she and Swenson (a soils science lecturer at Humboldt State University) plan to offer local and regional craft and microbrewed beers on tap and in bottles, as well as specialty Belgian and sour beers from Europe. (They're not brewing their own just yet.) They'll have six packs, too, for sale and will serve a limited menu from Arise Gluten-Free Baking Co. plus more yummies possibly from Loleta Bakery, Henry's Olives and other local food producers.
"The decor is going to be reminiscent of Victorian nautical Eureka history -- a lot of redwood fixtures and furniture from that era," said Barba. And the name? To lure you in, of course, with the irresistible song of hops and yeast so that you will "never want to leave and will just keep drinking beer."
There's lots of work to do before this can all take shape, however. Chris Mikkelsen, Kramer project coordinator, said the next step is to complete the floor plan for the tavern and then apply for a building permit. Once that's in hand, they can build up the interior.
Kramer Investment Corp. is in talks with other potential tenants but nothing's firmed up yet for the other spaces in the building: two other retail suites on the bottom floor and several office suites on the second and third floors.
Mikkelsen says Old Town's been luring all sorts of businesses lately, and empty storefronts are filling up: Restoration Hardware's old spot will become Sassafras' new home; a new restaurant's going into the old Hurricane Kate's, The Local is in the former sushi place, the Vance is nearly full, and so on.
"There’s a ton of activity in Old Town right now, and it’s really exciting," he said. Occupancy levels are extremely high."
“White guy, white guy, white guy, white guy, white guy, white guy, white guy, … Karen Bass.”
That was Assemblymember Wes Chesbro describing the gallery of Assembly Speaker portraits at the state Capitol to an adoring group of Dems-supporting-Jared Huffman. He introduced her as the keynote speaker at a Friday luncheon at the Eureka Women’s Club. (OK, so he forgot about Willie Brown.)
Bass -- who served alongside former Assembly member Patty Berg, host of the event, as well as Huffman in Sacramento -- went on to become a member of Congress in the infamous incoming freshman Class of 2010. She did not disappoint the crowd with partisan tales.
“We had 87 new Republican members -- 60 of them were in the Tea Party – and nine Democrats. They [Tea Party members] were basically protestors and woke up one day and had to make a transition from protesting to governing.”
“On that first day,” she said, one Tea Partier was incensed to learn that his health care benefits wouldn’t start until a month later. Another initially refused insurance, vowing to repeal and replace “Obamacare,” but changed his mind later when his child became ill. Also on Day 1, Tea Partiers vowed to read the Constitution aloud every day in session. Bass said, “Which one? The one where women can’t vote and blacks are subhuman?” They soon abandoned the effort.
Recollecting her first year in Congress, she read from a long list of attempts by her new colleagues to defund all women’s health services for contraception and abortion, including one failed bill that would have made it illegal for hospitals to perform abortions even to save a woman’s life.
“Now it’s one and a half years later and what have they done? … I feel sorry for [House Speaker] John Boehner. He can’t get his own bills passed,” Bass said.
Huffman, who spoke later, is one of 11 eight Democrats, one two Republicans and two independents running to represent the 2st District in the U.S. Congress. The event was one of many for candidates this weekend in Humboldt. The race is heating up with just 30 days to election time. According to new primary rules, only the top two candidates, Democrat or Republican, will advance to the run-off in November.