The 2-year-old toddling in front of Nickelodeon, one pudgy first wrapped around the remote as her daddy packs boxes, took her first steps inside this small, plain duplex in McKinleyville. It’s where her parents celebrated her first birthday and first Christmas, where her older sister had friends so close they looked on it as a second home.
But now, in the days before Thanksgiving, the family is packing to leave, given notice by a landlord who insists they are liars.
He says he would never sanction a marijuana grow.
They say they began complaining back in spring that the other half of the duplex, connected to theirs by a shared garage wall, had been turned into a grow house. The garage windows were covered first, they said, then came construction sounds, and then the smell, so strong it was nearly gagging in their garage.
“It was such a huge amount, and it was not 215; it was way above the 215 amount,” Laura Cline said earlier this month. She worried about electrical fires and about robbers who might mistake one look-alike unit for the other. She worried that she and her fiancé and their two girls might be told to move, to make way for more lucrative tenants. Cline had heard that the tenants next door were paying $2,400 or $2,500 a month — far more than her family’s $1,400 monthly rent.
In April, she took her fears to Cathy MacMullin, who once had managed that property for its owner, Brian Lawrence. MacMullin confirms that she wrote a letter to Lawrence, telling him some of Cline’s concerns, including that she had been hesitant to come forward because she had two small children and nowhere to move to.
“She was fearful to talk to him,” MacMullin said last week. “She didn’t know what to do.” MacMullin figured a letter would protect herself, Cline and Lawrence. “I was telling him, ‘Hey, you’ve got a problem.'”
For his part, Lawrence says, “I’m very upset over this whole thing. Obviously, this is someone who believes certain things that are not true.” He asked to speak about the matter off the record, and the Journal declined.
“Has she presented proof to you of any of these allegations? What I understand is she’s accusing me of renting to people who grow marijuana, and that is not true. I personally have never allowed that,” he said.
Lawrence ended the phone call before saying why he’d asked Cline to move, what he had done after receiving MacMullin’s letter, or whether he found any evidence of a grow on his property. Then he had his attorney write the Journal‘s publisher, claiming the conversation was off the record and saying he had not given permission to have his name used.
A couple of days later the attorney, Chris Hamer, emailed again, this time saying that whoever was talking to the Journal had lied to try to avert eviction for “her bad actions as a tenant.”
Told of the assertion, Cline burst out laughing. “What bad actions would that be? Asking to get my toilet fixed?” She said she took her worries to MacMullin because she was trying to protect her family.
Although Lawrence initially implied the Journal needs permission to use his name, no one needs permission to look at county property records, which show Lawrence owns the duplex at 1794 Edeline Ave. in McKinleyville, where Cline and her fiancé Mike Palmer are now packing to leave Unit A. No one needs permission to drive by his other properties, including a nearly identical duplex on Sutter Road in McKinleyville, where the back unit’s garage windows are covered with an opaque lining.
The lining looks just like the stuff that went up soon after the new tenants moved into Unit B at the Edeline duplex, Cline says.
Cline and her fiancé, Mike Palmer, say Unit B is vacant now. No one answered the door when a reporter knocked, and a gap in the mini-blinds showed an empty-looking slice of living room, with what might have been boards or plywood or construction along one wall.
“This is just horrible for our family,” Cline says. MacMullin has tried to help her find other places to live, but Cline and Palmer decided instead to move to Seattle, where they can get help from Cline’s family and be closer to her older girl’s father. She thinks the notice to move was so unfair that she ought to get some extra compensation, and she’s been trying to make that case to Lawrence’s current property manager.
“We’ve lived here a long time, 2½ years,” she says. “We’ve always paid our rent on time.”
Cline describes herself as “marijuana friendly,” but says there ought to be limits, that families shouldn’t lose out to growers who can pay higher rents.
Lawrence insists that isn’t what happened here.
Who is right? It might become clearer after new tenants move into units A and B at 1794 Edeline.
This article appears in The Light on the Bluff.
Great article, NCJ. I really sympathize with that family. Sounds like there was a grow there to me and they’re being unfairly punished for rightfully complaining about it. Here in Eureka, we’d take care of that problem for here and hold that property owner accountable.
Brian Lawrence is a total scumbag
I happen to know the two people in this article and don’t know anything about there living situation, but I do know that both parents are drug addicts and that Mike Palmer is a local gang member with a pretty extensive criminal history. Just saying…
Funny shes gonna move to Washington where they just passed legalization. Her new neighbors will probably do the same thing.
Yeah way to move away from your fears and take your children to Washington. And how do they know what or if any “amount” was in there, you say your 215 friendly doenst sound like it.
Brian Lawrence IS a scumbag! He’d do ANYTHING for a dollar. PROBABLY even screw over his own family…in my opinion!
I live in the neighborhood where this property is and a few weeks we lost a frisbee in this Laura clines back yard . When i went to knock on her door, there was a car in her driveway that had leaked what looked like all of its oil out of it everywhere . Also when i went into the backyard there must have been six mounths of household garbage piled up ! Good bye Laura and please take your garbage with you too ! Everybody in the hole neighborhood knows why This Laura Cline was evicted !
Well i heard that Brian Lawrence evicted the tenant that Laura Cline complained about and was already in the proses of doing that when he evicted her. So this hole artical doesn’t make any sence to me ! I had also heard about the things in joe’s comments as well as that in the inside of Laura Clines apartment that there were what looked like holes kicked in some of the doors , and that the carpets had what looked like oil tracked in on them all over . If i were Brian Lawrence I would have done the same thing he did and evict them both ! I wonder if the journal is going to be fair to Mr. Lawrence and do a follow up artical on the condition of Laura Clines apartment after she moves out ?
First of all I AM Laura Cline and Jeremy who are you? We are drug addicts now because I wanted my family to be safe? Just sayin… This is not a situation of me doing ANYTHING WRONG. This house is in fine condition. I had to empty a bucket of water under our sink while I was hugely pregnant every single day, because Brian doesn’t want to take care of his own house. Would I have taken care of under the cabinet for over 6 months if I didn’t care about a property? A frisbee in my backyard? REALLY… hmmm. Funny We don’t have piled up trash at all and I never saw your frisbee. If you want to support property owners who want tenants in their houses that are TRULY going to ruin his houses just to make a dollar be my guest. I spoke up for my family being unfairly given a NOTICE TO VACATE due to retaliation on his part because I talked to Cathy and she wrote a letter to try to protect me. I have NOT nor have I EVER been evicted from this house. People are going to hate on me and that’s ok. I lost my family’s home because I spoke up, I was in fear of my house burning down and you would be too if you lived next door to this situation. Right now half of the outlets do not work in my kitchen, the fan in the bathroom has never worked (all of which I have let him know of), the bathroom light no longer even works! Would you feel safe with a grow that size connected to your house with your children inside especially when the growers go out of town for weeks leaving us back here to, I guess, sit on their grow? I don’t think so. I am going back to Washington because I was raised there. I would have stayed here the rest of my life but we all know has gotten bad out here in Mckinleyville. The Heartwood development is full of growers now and I feel bad fo the homeowners in that neighborhood as well, many of which are good friends of mine. I am over people taking the side of those doing wrong to others in Humboldt who are just trying to live, work, and make an honest living. I’ve been in the neighbor’s house. Also, at night when there is so much electricity buzzing through your garage wall you can’t even sleep, in a room next to your own garage, how much wattage would you guess that was? When the neighbor was out of town for over 3 weeks something fell over in their garage and was banging on the garage wall, I think it was a fan, and it was scary. I did not know if something would short out or catch fire. “Marijuana friendly” is what the reporter quoted but were not even my words. I have no problem with 215 grows. I do however have a problem losing my home, after living here almost 3 years, in about 6 months since a huge grow moved in next door. I am not claiming to be perfect but calling me a “drug addict” is slander. I am in no way a drug addict and never have been. I will not sit here and let people put me and my family down because I am being treated unfairly. There is so much more to this story but if it happened to you and your family you would be worried also.
Sorry for posting so much on this thread but I wanted to say my side and am willing to explain or answer anything. I only agreed to talk to the reporter because this has been horrible for our family and I wanted to speak up about it, even though I was afraid. I have been being screamed at and hung up on by Brian, offered money by the neighbors to move so they could stay (because he told them they had to or he would kick THEM out which he also told me he was going to tell them to do) and harassed by him driving by our house and staring us down through our windows from his truck. Because of the stress I had to have surgery at the beginning of the month and have had to pack and move through all of that. Also I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital with my father because he was having chest pain and a minor heart attack. This is no laughing matter. It doesn’t matter if we WERE drug addicts or messy (which we aren’t) you cannot treat people this way just because you have money or think you own the world. I am moving back to where I was raised because this was the last straw for me. In Washington there are more jobs and rent is more reasonable I could care less if pot is legal or not. Luckily I was offered a very high paying job at an amazing company so hopefully things will be better for us. We did have our car leak oil because a seal broke hasn’t anyone else had car problems? If you feel the need to watch our family so much than you would have seen me on my hands and knees scrubbing the driveway with degreaser to get it off and it is cleaned up. It’s called life and things go wrong. This house is not trashed I have kept it in very good condition you can ask Cathy who just did a walkthrough a couple of months ago. I am not going to try to prove myself anymore I know the truth and those who know Brian Lawrence do also. He hung up on the reporter because he got caught doing something illegal and wrong. I moved here 10 years ago because I love Humboldt County and the sense of community and safety there is here. I packed up a moving van and came here at 21 years old, alone, with a 1 year old. That takes guts and so yeh, I have them. I only wish the best for everyone in Humboldt and if there was anything I wanted to leave behind in this beautiful amazing place that I love so dearly, it is that people like this will learn that it is not ok to treat people this way… ever. I only hope others can stand up, speak up, and not let anyone like this push them around or out of their own house or community. I love you Humboldt and I feel bad for anyone treated so unfairly, have seen it so much around here, and just want it to stop.
One more thing… I’m not “moving away from my fears”. I love it here. I hate it in Washington but the economy here (and everywhere for that matter) has just gotten way too hard and I can’t pass up a job offer. I am in tears leaving this house and Humboldt County. “Joe” thank you for letting me know I’m hated in our neighborhood. I could care less if you happen to like me or not but you have no right to trespass in my yard as you are admitting to, you might want to learn the difference between recycling that is in tubs (very little I might add) and trash. I know many people in this town who love us and will miss my family terribly. And “Larry” I hope you are not the Larry I think you are, we know the truth about you as well. Does anyone know the difference between the meaning of “hole” and “whole” ? LOL. I have nothing but love for Humboldt and leaving feels like my heart is being ripped out. You have no idea. I’ve run out of options.
This article is stupid and the people in it sound like cry babies. Trash, grows, oil spill, drug addicts, and you never denied being a gang member, all sounds like tweaker talk. Then you ask for extra compensation, sounds like you tried to get a piece of the pie and got denied. Both units got evicted here so what is the point!
No tweaker talk. Cars have leaks even when people aren’t on crank. Not sure what “gang” is around here but Mike has never been in one just because he has a tattoo, just shows how closed minded people are! I never asked for compensation. That is another thing added to the story that was not even a part of it. If you read what I wrote I DENIED money but thanks for your input 🙂
It seems simple to me Laura …Just have an open house and let everyone come in and look for themselves ! If the place looks good like what you say it does then you tell the truth. And if it looks like what these people say they heard it looks like then maybe brian had his reasons and you are unfairly accusing the property owner of evicting you when he was just trying to protect his investment that you weren’t taking care of ? Sounds reasonable and simple to me .
Laura and her husband sound like the very definition of a snitch! It’s probably in there best interest they move out of here. I used to be friends with both of them and can concur that they both are or were drug addicts. And they maintain a diagusting home, and Mike has put plenty of holes in the wall that they might of repaired already. Who cares. Sounds like the whole situation over there got out of control and the landlord kicked both tenants out for being stupid.
WOW !! Vanessa ! Sounds like you have first hand experience with this family and the condition of their house and their drug use . Is it posible that the property owner did the right thing here in evicting both tenants ? Is the tenant Laura Clines claims true or is she just angry for being evicted and making the whole thing up to get back at the property owner ? I will say that if their was a grow there but they are gone now bucause the property owner evicted them then Laura Clines whole storry doesn’t make any sence at all . The only proof that can define this whole situation now is the condition of lauras house and that could be the only proof we need .
I agree. If i had more time I would open up the house. There is normal wear and tear and we have kids. Cathy Macmullin did a walkthrough herself a couple of months back. I love how I’m being accused of being a “drug addict” by people who seem to KNOW us because our name is right there in the story but we don’t know you? LMAO. Now a snitch but would you all think it was funny if your kids died in a fire because of irresponsible growers? I’ve had growers next door since 2002 everywhere I have lived. Never a problem once. We are just being lied about because of haters and I didn’t expect anything else.
Once again we have NEVER been EVICTED do you want to see the paperwork too? LOL. There is a difference between being asked to leave and evicted people use your brain.
So what actually happened here? The landlord did or did not give permission for some people to grow pot in his house, then the neighbors complained and he evicted everybody? He evicted the pot growers for being pot growers, and he evicted the neighbors for being bad tenants? And this made it to the Northcoast Journal??! Uhm… Wow. Sounds to me like the landlord exercised his rights. This actually made it to the Northcoast Journal? Sounds like the journal is reaching pretty far for a story here.
It sounds to me that the property owner was totally within his rights to evict BOTH tenants. Truthfully, if I owned such a property, I would be a fool NOT to rent BOTH units to the grower, if he was in fact getting double the rent from the 215 tenant. Sounds like simple economics to me. Who was the “annonymous” grower tenant, anyway and how does the reporter know for a fact that the landlord was getting double the amount of rent? Pretty sloppy journalism, if you ask me, when you only get half of the story and it’s full of unconfirmed “facts”. If the tenant knew for a fact that the grower was not 215 legal, why not simply call law enforcement? Something in this story doesn’t quite add up. Truth is, that tenants can be asked to leave or evicted for any reason and landlords are totally within their rights to do so, just like tenants are totally within their rights to leave when giving proper notice. So why is this even a story? It seems as though the reporter has a personal agenda against the landlord or is biased towards the tenant. Ask any property manager,and they will tell you that 15-20% of rentals in Humbolt, Mendocino and Trinity Counties are indoor grows, and that figure is probably conservative. Place an ad for a house for rent, and I can assure you that the 215 applicants will far outnumber the “legitimate” applicants. Is it the landlord’s fault that he rented to a grower and it caused an unsafe or undesireable living situation for his other tenants? The landlord in this case may be, indeed guilty of unethical behavior if he “chased” away Ms. Cline in favor of a more profitable tenant, but clearly nothing illegal. Unfortunately, there are no facts supplied in this story, to support the word of a disgruntled tenant. If you ask me, this story should be less about a greedy, unfair landlord and more about the state of the marijuana “industry” in this county and how it prices tenants,like Ms. Cline out of our local rental market.
Who cares about all of this??? People get evicted everyday! Anyone who REALLY knows the landlord in this situation or has ever worked with or for him in ANY SITUATION, knows that he’s (in my opinion) a complete bully, money hungry, manipulative, control freak. Karma will DEFINATELY come back to bite this man HARD someday because you cannot be the type of person he is, and get away with the things he does. You people have absolutely no idea!!! Now, go find something productive to do!
WOW !! The new editor Carrie Peyton Dahlberg wrote this incredibale article ? This type of journalism is exactly why no one on the north coast reads or ever takes the Journal seriously ! Who hired this investigative genius anyway ? Where is the proof of anything ? You just wiped the floore with this property owner with nothing but innuendos that were stretched like silly puddy !! I am so disappointed in the Journal for their lack of ethics here and from the editor !! Really ? !! I also noticed that someone from the journal erased the comment made by Fly Fisher that commented on Carrie Peyton Dahlbergs Shitty Journalistic ethics as well . Did she erase it herself to avoid being exposed to the public and her bosses or did the Journal as a hole do this to avoid the truth about the bad article with bad ethics ? We will see how long my comments stay up here for everyone to read ! In closing i would just like to say that the best thing about the journal is that its free and it starts a good fire in my fire place . and whats sad about the Journal is that every time I burn one up one of your ussues starting a fire, the Journal can claim they have one more subscriber in hopes they will get one more advertisers money !
I agree this story is absolute crap and in no way accomplished anything except a bunch of drama. The research was horrible and Carrie only cared about getting a store. She even put our names and address not caring who or what happened from that. Bad writing and I must say she hurried to write this. Very disappointing. We were not evicted but I’m so happy not to give Brian another dollar of my hard earned money and so glad to be out of that house! Thank God!
I agree with 420 on the issue of rentals in Humboldt being taken over by pot growers tha don’t know what the are doing. I didn’t call the cops because I wouldn’t send a bunch of young kids growing herb to prison that is wrong to me. All he had to do was get the wiring right and everyone would have been fine the whole thing is stupid but it wasn’t cool to lose my house because of the pot industry in Humboldt thus I left the area because I love Humboldt but this showed me it just want the place for us anymore. I am seeing now the notice to vacate was a blessing in disguise. I will miss you Humboldt and anyone pretending to know me man up and send me an email or use your real name lmao. Everyone I have ever known in Humboldt still is, and will always be, a good friend of mine who would need post lies about me or my man.
the abuses of our local rental market, diverting housing from humans to plants is DISGUSTING!!having a greenhouse or shed or small indoor space which does NOT prevent a child,or an elder on fixed income,or just the normal working poor from having a home is a great way to keep kids in clothes and well-fed, but when it comes to having a gang-related bunch of irrational,inexperienced people introducing meth, X, ketamine,pills,analogues,etc to our teens/young adults, causing fire hazards….well how can ANYONE possibly defend THAT???
After the November election, I thought, “What sort of person would re-elect this horrible excuse for a national leader?” Well, after reading this ridiculous (yet entertaining) thread – and article for that matter – I now have my answer. Getting away from Humboldt county years ago was by far the best thing that ever happened to our family. The fact that anyone would defend a grow is utterly reprehensible to me, and is more than adequate indication that America is in a profound state of moral decline. Need proof? Here it is. The prevailing context of the argument surrounds the condition of Laura’s apartment (i.e. oil stains in the driveway, trash in the back yard, etc.) Might I ask where the outrage is regarding a home stocked with pot plants exceeding a number that most of you can probably count to? Get with the program, people. Wise up, get clean, and try actually contributing to this society for a change.
Amen and thank you!!! As much as I loved living there I’m so glad to be out. It is so nice to be among people who work for a living. I cannot agree more. It’s absurd and the article is trash and thrown together. Humboldt has gotten so bad you have no idea. I will miss the positive things about it but there is something seriously wrong here!