Around noon on Oct. 19, a Tuesday, she sat on the curb near the corner holding her cardboard sign so that people in the cars could read it before heading into the Costco gas station. She was young, fair-skinned, with a little bit of makeup and long, wavy, blonde-highlighted hair. She wore flipflops, black capris and an unzipped clean white hoodie over a white blouse. Her sign said, in felt-tipped pink, purple and blue letters, “Willin’ 2 Work! Lost Home. Need Motel. Please, Anything Helps.”
A young man, his brow furrowed, stood beside her. He was pale and thin, with short sandy hair and neatly trimmed facial hair, and he wore clean jeans, a crisp white T-shirt and blue-and-white athletic shoes. He, too, faced north, ready to leap out and answer the question from the lowered window, or retrieve the offering — advice, cash, food, lecture, whatever.
A blue-eyed girl, her cheery face smeared with juice and her blonde hair slightly tousled, leaned against a double-seated blue stroller sipping from a fast-food soda cup. A blue-eyed boy, his head shaved into a wispy mohawk, hunkered on the sidewalk drawing on a piece of paper with crayon; he kept scooting his butt into the street so he could use the curb as a table, and the woman kept scooting him back onto the sidewalk. “You can’t be in the street!” she scolded.
Cars streamed past. One, a black pickup, lingered at the stop sign and the driver talked briefly to the young man, then drove the pickup around the corner and stopped. The man ran over to talk to the driver, then came back. “That guy offered me some work tomorrow,” he said to the woman. “Just a one-day job, but….”
A dark blue car drove past, giving a friendly beep, and the young couple waved.
A beat-up red truck rattled up to the stop sign, revved its engine and peeled out, the driver shouting, “You’re exploiting your kids!”
Then a small white car pulled to the curb.
They met in 2007 in the Hoopa Tribal Civilian Community Corps, a room-and-board AmeriCorps program for 18- to 24-year-olds combining practical education with community service. Cheyanna was 18 and had spent the last half of her life in Willow Creek and the Hoopa Valley as a loved, adopted child — and trying to recover from the rocky first half. Her parents lost custody of her when she was 3 months old, after which she’d been tossed between aunties and foster homes, had occasional scary encounters with her needle-waving dad, and witnessed the death of her beloved grandpa.
Timothy was 20 and had lived with his grandparents his whole life — his dad was in prison and his mom was unable to raise him. His first 15 years were in Fresno, and the rest mostly in Hoopa, where his grandparents had relatives.
In the TCCC, they were learning all sorts of commendable skills: swift-water rescue, CPR, first aid. But then Cheyanna got pregnant by Timothy. She wasn’t being a stupid teenager; she was on DepoProvera.
They quit the TCCC and Cheyanna’s adoptive mother, Viola, let them live in a trailer on her property in Hoopa. Things soured fast between Timothy and Viola, and after the twins, Janice and Timmy, were born, on Sept. 29, 2007, the young family moved in with Timothy’s grandparents — a household, unfortunately, known locally as “the pill house.” Two years later his grandma died and his grandpa moved to Crescent City. Cheyanna, Tim and the babies moved to the coast to live in the Multiple Assistance Center in Eureka.
Three weeks later Timothy was kicked out. He was hooked on painkillers. He entered a detox program, and Cheyanna and the kids stayed in the MAC. When he got out, they went together to the Eureka Rescue Mission where, one by one, they each got a staph infection that required hospitalization. After two months, the city’s winter shelters opened, and for 45 days, on the county’s dime, the family stayed in the Broadway Motel.
The 45-day period ended in late March of this year. Tim hadn’t landed a job. They were on waiting lists for further assistance. They would need $50 nightly for the motel room.
“Omigod, babe, what are we going to do?” Cheyanna asked Timothy on their last free night in the motel. Then she answered her own question: “We could try flyin’ a sign.”
Their first sign said “Stranded.” It was embarrassing. It was degrading. But they told themselves they were good parents and they wouldn’t be doing this forever.
And now it was mid-October.
The guys inside Honest Engine, an automotive repair and parts shop on the northeast corner of West Wabash and Short Street, had a clear view of the family on the corner from their shop’s front windows.
“They’ve been out there a long time, and sometimes almost every day,” said Steve Talmadge, the manager. He sat at the long, L-shaped counter with paperwork spread before him. “They come in here and ask for change for our soda machine — they give us dollars and we give them change.”
A few months ago, a woman was calling the shop every day to complain about the begging family. “She was really upset about the kids, and she wanted me to call the newspaper, the police, child welfare services,” Talmadge said. “I didn’t. It’s none of my business. And it’s not illegal, what they’re doing.”
One time, he said, the young guy came over to help the owner’s wife pick up garbage that somebody else had strewn about.
Monte, a technician, frowned. “They yell at the kids,” he said. “I’ve heard them cussing in front of them.”
“They’ll use the f-word,” added Steve. “But I think they yell at each other, not the kids.”
“It just bothers me,” said Monte. “Here’s a guy who can work. He never came in here for a job application.” He fell quiet. Then he added: “But they’re not hurting anybody. They don’t make any trouble. I don’t have a problem with them; I just feel sorry for them.”
“I don’t believe that there aren’t jobs out there,” Talmadge said. “You always see help wanted signs at the fast food joints. When I moved up here in 1985, I took a job, minimum wage. I didn’t want to do just nothing.”
Technician David Sugg came in from the back. “I heard they were run out of Hoopa because they were big-time druggies,” he said. “And I remember one Saturday I came down here to work and he, the guy, was standing over there screaming ‘Help! I need help!’ He acts erratic. … I think they should jerk the kids and make [the parents] pee in a bottle. It’s a little depressing, because the kids seem so sweet.”
They took in $200 the first day they panhandled, back in March. After that, on the best days, they brought in $100, tops. Usually, they could make the 50 bucks to pay for their motel room in a couple of hours. And people brought them all kinds of stuff. A retired sheriff came by every first of the month with a bunch of McDonald’s for the kids. He said, “Hey, I’m a grandpa, and I’m going to be your kids’ grandpa today.” People brought them blankets and food. One time, Cheyanna put up a sign saying they needed camping gear, and they were flooded with gifts: tent, sleeping bags, food, foldable camp chairs.
Another time, Cheyanna and the kids were sitting on the grass next to the stop sign. Timothy was making a few dollars helping a guy unload a truck down the street. And a guy who takes care of Costco’s landscaping came over and told her and the kids to get off the fucking grass. Then he turned the sprinklers on them. Cheyanna and the kids ran, soaking wet, to the entrance of Costco to complain. A manager came out and apologized but said he couldn’t do anything about the groundskeeper because he was a contractor. He went back in.
But then he came back out and asked if they wanted a pizza, went back in, and brought the pizza out. He told them the rules: Stay off the grass, don’t block the sidewalk, don’t litter.
Lately, people seemed to be giving less. Maybe they thought it was a scam. Some people yelled, “Social services is right down the block!” Or they accused Cheyanna of doing heroin. She didn’t! And don’t say that word around her kids!
Also, the cops seemed to be coming around more often, telling them they were endangering their children. Cheyanna invoked the name of one of them whenever one of the kids misbehaved: “You better come back here. Sgt. Sanchez is coming!”
The kids thought he was scary.
So did Cheyanna’s newfound Auntie Kathy.
“He’s rough, he’s a very domineering male and he’s prejudiced,” said Kathy Anderson, sitting in a pink chair on her back porch on Fairfield Street one recent afternoon. “Especially toward the homeless.”
Storm-filtered sunlight lit up her pretty garden and the clay suns and clocks hanging on the fence — gifts from some of the homeless people she’d helped. A bamboo chime hanging from the awning clonked. The late-afternoon traffic on Fairfield grew louder as more cars darted off Broadway into the neighborhood. She said she’d been homeless once. She’d run away from a bad home when she was 14 and was raised by a group of homeless hippies on Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.
Kathy belongs to CopWatch, a group that monitors police actions, and runs her own street ministry to help the homeless. One day a month or so ago she ran into Cheyanna and discovered she was the adoptive daughter of her sister-in-law, Viola. She and Viola hadn’t spoken in years, not since Kathy’s husband, Viola’s brother, died, and Kathy hadn’t seen Cheyanna since she was a child.
She eventually invited the family to come stay with her awhile, and for the past few weeks they’d been sleeping most nights on a couch in her tiny downstairs Victorian apartment.
So, yes, they had a safe place to stay for the time being. But Kathy didn’t think they’d stop panhandling immediately. They were used to the money. Sometimes, they brought food home to cook. They were trying. But they still had some growing up to do. Give ’em time, she said.
Eureka Police Sgt. Rodrigo Sanchez arrested Cheyanna once, for shoplifting at Winco. Timothy, too, had been apprehended by another cop one time when he seemed under the influence.
“The only reason I haven’t arrested them for child endangerment is I’m reluctant to split up the family,” Sanchez said over the phone.
But he’d told them repeatedly that what they were doing wasn’t safe. The car exhaust was bad for the kids’ young lungs. The kids needed some sunscreen. And just a week or so ago, two cars had collided at that very intersection.
“The biggest concern I have is for the children,” Sanchez said. “And it’s my personal opinion that they’re using them to make people feel sorry for them and give them money. And I know that Cheyanna has a drug problem — ask her to show you her arms. And I know he does, too. I’ve told him to be a man and take care of his family. … I’m also of the opinion that we should help people. I’ve actually contacted them and provided them with phone numbers to agencies. And I’ve told her there is shelter for her and the kids at the women’s shelter.”
The county’s Child Protective Services division apparently hasn’t determined they’re endangering their children; otherwise, why would they still be out there? (CPS won’t talk about specific cases, but Cheyanna said CPS opened a case on them in May, checked out their motel room, examined the kids for abuse or neglect, and then closed the case.)
Sanchez said people in similar circumstances that he’d booted from the street often came back later to thank him.
But what about people who said he was hostile and scary?
“Have you seen what I look like?” he said, gruffly. “I’m 6’2″ with a bald head and a mustache and my happy face is probably scary.”
Solomon Williams may be a well-fed 53-year-old, living easy in Petrolia. But when he was a kid, his family was one of the poorest in his community in Detroit. They ate powdered eggs and canned meat. But he and his eldest sister, after getting an education, helped their family get out of the ghetto and then, through the church, they told people how they did it.
That is why he pulled over, that Tuesday, when he saw the young family on the corner. He’d also worked as a case manager for a local homeless services outfit. He knew there were people who were desperate. Who might turn to prostitution if their children went hungry one more night. It didn’t matter to him what Cheyanna and Timothy’s story was — they’d say what they felt they needed to say in order to appear worthy. But whether they were deserving or not, the end result was the same. Their reality was still just as screwed-up. Their kids were still hungry. She might be a beginning tweaker, and if he gave them money they might use it to get her a hit that night. But maybe there’d be a positive shift in their thinking if he stopped to help.
He parked his small white sedan in the red zone and got out: a middle-aged black man in green pants and a green shirt. He walked up to Cheyanna and handed her several 20s. “Thank you!” she said.
Did they have a place to go at night? Solomon asked. Had they sought services? Did they have a plan?
Timothy and Cheyanna told him their story. They said they’d been robbed several times. They stayed in a motel most of the time. And, recently, a woman gave them an apartment to live in in Arcata, but it turned out she was attracted to Cheyanna and wanted just her and the children to live there, not Timothy.
Little Janice, growing restless, made a chubby-legged dash down the sidewalk. Cheyanna and Timothy shouted at her to come back; then Cheyanna ran after her and picked her up. Then Timmy did it. Finally, they strapped the kids into the stroller: Timmy, in the back seat, played with one of his shoes, and Janice, in the front, clutched a bald baby doll dressed in a white onesy.
But Timothy was excited. Just today, he said, his social worker told him there was a job for him, through the welfare-to-work program, at the Humboldt Botanical Gardens. He started work the following Monday, or as soon as he got his lost social security card replaced and signed the contract.
“Do you smoke?” asked Solomon, unimpressed.
“No,” said Timothy.
“The Petrolia volunteer fire department is usually looking for somebody with training, but is willing to train,” Solomon said.
“I’ve always wanted to do that, too,” said Timothy.
Well, said Solomon, if he got on with the volunteer fire department, that would impress someone farther down the line who might hire him for pay.
“Yeah!” said Timothy. “Right on!”
Go to the Sun Valley bulb farm, Solomon continued. They often are hiring.
Cheyanna said she’d finished high school in just two years. “And people don’t know that I have two years toward a psych degree,” she added. She’d done the coursework online. She also had an in-home supportive services certificate to be a caregiver, but she was too busy caregiving her own children to work.
When she was ready to work, said Solomon, he’d help her put together her resume.
“That’d be awesome,” she said. “That’d be great. Because I know I can do it.”
Solomon said he would put together a packet of information and send it to them. They exchanged e-mails. Then he pulled out his wallet, extracted several more 20s, and gave them to Cheyanna.
“They are too young to beg!” said Betty Chinn, over the phone. The well-known local homeless advocate sounded upset. “They can work. They even can volunteer.”
She knew the family. She knew they’d been kicked out of the Multiple Assistance Center. They don’t want to change! She tried to help them, but every time she talked to them Timothy told her he had a job. He never had a job.
“They can tell many, many stories,” she said. “I only help people who help themselves. They can have breakfast with me, dinner with me, lunch with me. I tell people, don’t give them the money. It encourages their lifestyle. They choose the lifestyle, the easy money — OK. But the kids, it’s not good for them. I had a friend from Ferndale call me who said she almost hit one of the kids!”
She said getting back into the MAC would be the best way for them to return to society.
Or, Cheyanna could just come on home with the kids, said Viola, Cheyanna’s adoptive mother, that same day on the phone from Hoopa. People had been blowing up her phone with reports of her daughter begging on the streets of Eureka. It dismayed her.
“Cheyanna does not have to be in that position,” she said. “And I do not want the community to feel sorry for them. I’m actually very upset with her. For a mother to drag her children out into the rain is bullshit.”
She said Cheyanna and the kids could come home any time. Without Timothy. He was not welcome. He’d stolen from her, she said, and lied, and she’d taken out a two-year restraining order against him. He was a total prescription drug freak, she said. They both were, and they did heroin — look at their arms, she said. One time, she said, when they were living with her in Hoopa, one of the twins got hold of one of Timothy’s methadone pills and had to be rushed to Mad River Hospital.
She won’t support Cheyanna’s drug habit, she said, but she can come home.
“I miss my daughter,” she said. “Him, I don’t give a damn. He says the same thing over and over, that he’s clean now, that he’ll get a job. Let me tell you, this guy will blow smoke up your butt.”
A cop had pulled up and was quizzing Timothy. After the cop left, Timothy came back over to Cheyanna, agitated. “He said, everytime I see you you’re high,” he told her. “I said, I’m not high now, am I?”
He sighed. “I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “I’ve messed up. I know I’m not perfect. But we’re good parents and as soon as I’m working we’re not going to panhandle anymore.”
But the cop encounter had affected his mood. He was supposed to go sign a contract for his new job, which started in a few days. But now it was too late, he said, defeated. He and Cheyanna packed up the kids and walked over to the Eureka Natural Foods shopping center and Timothy disappeared. Cheyanna, whose glittery eyegloss made it look like she had teardrops in the corners of her eyes, said, “Tim likes to hang out with people who do bad things. But once you have kids, everything is different. I have to do what’s right for the kids. At the same time, I love Tim. And if he does wrong…”
She trailed off. Then she said, “People say, ‘Why aren’t you leaving him? Why don’t you raise your kids with someone else?’ But it’s not about ‘someone else.’ I want to raise them with Tim.'”
The county Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the welfare-to-work program, doesn’t talk about specific cases. So the details of Timothy and Cheyanna’s case remain theirs alone to tell.
They might still be panhandling. He may or may not be working. They’re young. Cheyanna’s Auntie Kathy wants to give ’em time. Not everyone agrees. And with winter coming, and with the children nearing a third of their lives on a corner, that time could be running out.
This article appears in Family on the Corner.
too much good stuff to say about this story. Simple and straight forward. Ultimately it’s the government manufacturing and handing out extremely addictive pills like candy, and we have to bicker about marijuana.
Too bad America’s “free trade” agreements have sucked many jobs to other countries. It is sad to see the results.
$50 a night for a hotel room is about $1500 a month.
If they take in between $50 – $100 per day…that averages out to $75 x 30 = $2250 tax free dollars a month.
oh please, mary. like that lifestyle is worth any amount of money. are you trying tomake iit sound like they’re rich and have it good? they’re addicts who stand in teh same spot all day every day being yelled at half the time. you couldn’t pay a sane person that much for that kind of “work”. Get off it with the tax free dollar nonsense, it’s cliche hate.
Timothy is more then abusive to the kids and her.. you read that not 1 person from Timothy’s family was in the paper. … because when Timothy was living in Hoopa Timothy and Cheyanna didn’t take care of the kids Steve’s mother and father (Timothy grandparents) did all the feeding and parenting of those kids..Timothy, Cheyanna have stoled from his 69years old grandfather, grandmother..Timothy and Cheyanna have lied to ever family member repeatedly ..the family has tried to help Timothy and Cheyanna more then one time..and Timothy has had jobs one was ray’s in Hoopa, and 10 month a go both could have had a job with use.. her in the care home and him on the small farm ..But, thay could not get clean…for Heroin or pills….so much more is going on….it is sad for the kids and we will give the kids a place to live when the police or CPS steps in…SAD 🙁
Heidi Walters, you did an amazing job in presenting this many sided situation.
I picked up the paper because I like most of you have drove by this couple and looked on in disgust and sadness. I then try to explain to my children why they beg for money. I was happy to see this was not just a bleeding heart sob story but the truth showing both sides to the story. Like a small confrontation made him late for a job interview. So he blew it off. Just another excuse. I wonder how Smart them telling their story was ? will it increase or decrease profits? Pretty Bad when Betty Chin has had it with you! what does that say? Thanks Heidi walters for digging deeper than just the sad story they tell. true sadness is they are showing the little ones this is how to make a living. You dont even dare take him to you house to do a days yard work for fear of being robbed the next week.
How much did the smokes in her pocket cost ?
My husband and I have often thought about giving some of our “fixed income $$$” to this family as we drive by, but after seeing the comments in the article by those who have worked in community service ( Betty Chinn & Solomon Williams ), at what point will the couple see they need to help themselves, especially with all the family/agency resources. Maybe CPS needs to give the couple a wakeup call and place the children w/family until the parents can clean themselves up.
Dear Gimme A Break….sorry if I offended your senses….I was just thinking out loud. I know people with families who work two or three jobs and don’t bring home that kind of money. I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem fair. But no one said life would be did they. Maybe I have a hardened heart. I just hate to see these babies being used as a tool for their habit.
I have heard from several people that this family is no longer panhandling at that location.
Dear Howard family:
I worry for the safety of the 3-year old twins. Is there anything in place if they decide to bolt and leave the area? Why isn’t Child Protective Services kicking in here? There are obviously family members that are concerned and available to assist this family, although no one is interested in helping the immature Timothy because he doesn’t want to take the high road and be a man and can only find ways to rip people off that are trying to help him through his family so he can get his high. What a tragic soul. But how about the mommy looking out for the best interests for her babies? Is she all about her man and f her own kids? That’s the attitude of a victim. So he must be victimizing her too. Ask for police stats on that. This family is the poster family for dysfunctional.
And for Gimme a Break….gimme a break. If you think this is OK…well let me know.
Dear Mary The Howard and Long families have worried about the children for 2 1/2 years. The families can’t Help the childen until Child Protective Services steppes in. A parent has the right to live has they think is fit to live.Until CPS kicks in and deices their parenting skills need HELP.Are hands are tied has a family.We are ready to help the child. when CPS finely step in to help the child.
We don’t understand way CPS has not kick in and way the police have not arrest them for being under the influent and child endangerment for being high with the children and on a street conner day after day..
Cheyanna has a every loving mother that would love to help her daughter and the kids. She has tied to help both of them time after time. Understandably stated helping just her daughter and the kids
Timothy has a have large family and so many hope that Cheyanna and him get live-in rehab and place the kids in a safe house until they can proved a safe home and clean/sober//truth parent. For those kids to grow up with a great foundation..
and for gimme a break….$2250 tax free dollars a month + welfare and food stamps.That is a good living in Eureka..That is more than I make and I work 160+++hours a month. so please give me a break. I wont my taxes BACK…
Dump that loser drug-addict you’re with, you’re not going anywhere with him for one, and two, hook up with a non-profit and go back to C/R making something positive with you’re life. Lifes a *itch, deal with it and never give in!
More should be done to help the poor. However, do you know what it costs to get highlights in your hair? It is very expensive. These children (that is what they truly are) have misplaced priorities: highlights and drugs for self over food and shelter for their children. I believe their children should be put in protective custody until they can, if ever, get their lives together, and they should be prohibited from having any more children they can’t take care of. Freedom shouldn’t apply to fucking up other people’s lives, even if they are your own children.
The Journal’s gonna scoop another award or two with this article. Compelling and insightful, I couldn’t put it down. My 10 year daughter even read it. What an eye opener for her, as it showed that the issue at hand is not black and white. Excellent job, Heidi!
When addiction is involved, time won’t fix the issues. Everyone who has “felt” for these young adults and given them money and other resources have, in a sense, enabled them to keep avoiding their substance use/abuse problems. The family members who laid down their lines and said no drug use did right. The shelters and programs that kicked them out for drug use did right. The CPS leaving the young twins in this situation has definitely not done right. As long as people can keep on doing what they are doing, they won’t see the need to change, and when addiction is involved, things often have to get very difficult and painful before people will change. And even then, they often can’t. Addiction is a big monkey, and not something cured by time and good intentions. Would be nice for this paper to do a follow up in a year, see where those twins are. The parents did not get a fair start on life, so it would be good to see these little ones get a better shot.
Walters! There comes a point in one’s life when you realize that you cannot do something right no matter how many times you try. At that point you must give up and move on to something else. Maybe you can find less of an insurmountable challenge in waiting tables at the Village Pantry than being a “reporter.”
@TheyHateMe: You’re all alone in that opinion, buddy. (See comments above.) Maybe you should direct your piercing analysis inward. Here’s a question to get you started: What type of person anonymously barfs on other people’s shoes?
It takes an act of God to get children removed from their natural parents in this county. The law put the rights of parents above the safety of children. If we don’t like this then we have to change the laws.
Another issue is that some foster situations can be worse that what the children are enduring at home.
It’s all so sad….
This was a nice recovery for the Journal after the low point with the hanging girl article and the beer me jesus piece. Good work, Heidi!
Dear Howard and Long families. I know you all have the best intentions for the wellbeing of the babies. I commend you for it. I also know, that if the opportunity presented itself, that you would also take in and provide for Cheyanna. I have a feeling she is just as much a victim as the babies. I think she is a woman who is stupidly in love with a loser. Been there, done that. That is a hard bond to break. I will continue to pray that those children are protected by God and that people “out there” will rally enough to get something done to protect them. Blessings to you all. Mary
So, I noticed she could afford to buy cigarettes. There’s a pack in her pants pocket in the first photo. They’re not cheap…had a young man hit me up for money in front of Rays market once, then walked over to a Beemer and drove away…you never know the true story.
All I know is that when my daughter was 3 years old I hesitated to push her stroller down Fairfield St, let alone sit on a corner for EIGHT MONTHS with her. Come on people!!—-I’ll bet those kids are jack in the box born and raised and think begging is ok–mommy and daddy do it! Shouldn’t they have begun in Head Start by now anyway?Good job Heidi Waters-Did they hit you up for $$ afterwards,though?
They are always high. I have seen them. The children are in danger. What is this article saying about Child Welfare Services in our area? Tough love. They need treatment. They need their children taken away before their actions damage yet another generations future. You know…..I am a sober mother of 4. I was homeless for a year before I found a home here with my children. It was a slow process. But with that said , I have come leaps and bounds. The programs for families are out there-They do work if you just jump through the hoops. . How many bridges do parents get to burn before the county will intervene?
Whos really got the problem? The county or the parents?
Run the parents over and save the children.
I have learned that the family has vacated the site, and yet the County has no idea where they went to or where they can be. Humboldt County CPS… what happens now?
OK….They are gone….
Is there not an inter county communication between cps and other counties?
The Long and Howard families don’t care about their children’s children, they are the reason that this family stood on a street corner for so long. Why do you think that there are so many foster children homeless these days? Yes Cheyanna was Vi Longs foster child (that she only wanted for the money). All of you are judging people by what you know and it shows your ignorance when you criticize this family. They need a REAL chance and real is hard to find. God bless them!
Dear Kate I Know that the Howard family has tryed to HELP Timothy, Cheyanna and the childen
We have has a Family have tryed everything to help them out and at some point the family most stop helping becouse all the Family is doing is helping them stay addicted. Just like the community and the government agencies When you would fall for ever sigh(waiting for a H.U.D House,going camping need camping supplics,family needs a hotel, will work for money)
list of things that the Howard Family has tryed to do so they would have those babys homeless.
1. lived rent free with grandpant for years
2. Grandpants paid all the bills for the both of them (Rent,PG&E,water, garbeg,swear, food,clothing for the baby,milk,ECT)
3. Tomithy had a job waiting and a plece to live. 8.00 hr(But, He most stay in and comeplet drug treatment program)a
4 Cheyanna was kiked out for being pranmet for the Hoopa Tribal Civilian Community Corps.She had a job waiting at 8.25 hour with bouns at timothy Uncial(Steve) girlfriends of years. A Residential Care Homes for the disabled adult. and it is a family owned, she could have had the kids at work.(both-summit to radem drug tests.
5. Grandpants Paid and had trailer Moved. from Cheyanna long Mother house to behide thier Grandpants house.(Rent free)
6. When Timthy and Cheyanna where high on Pills or harrion gandparents feed and cared for those baby.
7. family willing watch the childen so they can go to Residential a treatment program.
8.Grandpa drive them to the Multiple Assistance Center.
9. a warm house for the kids to live day and night. if they wonted to hold a sigh.
List of thing that Timothy and cheyanna did to rip the family apart and end up on the streets using drug and living off other people.
1.Timothy layed hands on Cheyanna in Hoopa.
2. Both of them broke in to his grandparent bedroom though a widow because the door was locked and Stold and sold their grandma wedding ring 3 black hills gold ring that belong to his grandpa and some other Items+ their medication for the month..(happed more then 1 time the stealing)
3. Calling his grandparnet names.
4.Not taking any respobely for there action.
5.Losting job affer job, I renember myself 2. he had lost
6. theated to kill family menbers (read a piece of a e-mail I got last month…better be happy u walked out of grama jans house alive when u blamed the people u blamned for her being gone u mutha-fuckers! for Cheyanna
7.Hoopa police at the all the time because of the fight and drug use
Timothy,Cheyanna, and Brother and his family doing.
8.just one programs. Multiple Assistance Center.got kicked out.
9. Both repetely lieing about the unnecessary.
10. Not wanting to flow-low a working programs. to better their life’s and to help better the kids life’s.
11.wel-fare and hand-outs money on Drugs.
12 Timothy and Cheyanna had a changes for 3 + years to get it together for the kids.
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Turning your back on a loved one because of addiction isn’t easy or immediate. It’s very painful and requires great strength. What some people don’t understand is that when addicts of pills and heroin don’t get their fix, they literally think they are going to die, that life is worthless for everybody including their children, and that there is no light at the end of any tunnel. The only option is to get their fix at any cost (especially for the sake of any children) and follow the path of least resistance like everybody else.
I saw the parents walking south on Broadway near Eureka Natural Foods yesterday, without the children. Let’s hope social services has intervened and found a safe place for the children while the parents are allowed to hit bottom once and for all.
http://www.humdelna.org/
The Parents spotted other day at the department of social serves Office(wel-fare branch). The parents Still have the Kids @ Cheyanna’s Auntie Kathy House. social services NOT intervened and have NOT found a safe place for the children..So Sad poor babies..
I saw the family in question today outside the Costco parking lot. The children were sitting in their stroller under a tarp while the freezing rain fell down like crazy. I was immediately saddened at the life that those children are living! I happened upon a Eureka police officer and let him know that they were there. What i am wondering is why CPS has not removed these children from these druggie parents. It sounds as if they need some tough love to come out of their sad situation. No child deserves this…this is no life! These children are in immediate danger and also the cycle of abuse and neglect will continue if the children stay with the parents.
I drove home in tears, crying for all the children out there who do not have a choice in how they are cared for. My one year old son is my highest priority and I cannot imagine putting him in danger or even keeping him outdoors in this freezing rain.
I commend you for your article but something must be done…these children deserve a safe, stable home where they can be cherished and loved with all there is to give. Namast
We are hoping the community can help the family by posting information on the children and/or parents whereabouts (Like North or south/East or west side of town or street names/ business, and/or locations,) So,we can get the Kids in to a safe house n off the streets..baby Janice,baby Timothy need 3 meals a day + snakes hugs and heat with head start 5 day a week…
Why are the kids living at rock bottom.NOT 2 druggie parents how are using drugs and other family members names….. (like Timothy Howard did when he got stopped my law informant) the 2 druggie parents need to hit rock bottom.maybe then parents can find it with in themselves a inner-drive to go to rehab.They are NOT looking out for the best inters of the kids..
let the family know if a net working sit would help.maybe a facebook and/or myspace..or something other….NEED THE COMMUNITIES HELP…..
Just to let all of these judgemental people who posted all these things why don’t u come and talk to us when u drive by and stare at us with ur wondering you know we r people of this community to not just a gossip story for the towns eye we are more ashamed of all the peoples negative reactions rather than offering moral support and personal insight Into things we may not know about . Yes we may have our issues and hard times and one may be worse than the other but, we are trying to juggle being there as parents and giving our babys the attention they desrerve,and working our numerous programs we have to do to get our life on track and survivinh physically on the streets in this town I think were doing pretty good and look very well and the main thing is, we love and still have our children and there trust thank u for reading and feel free to stop and talk in person when u see us walking down broadwqay and such happy new year
Judgment is what happens in people Eyes when Tim and you are not truthful with the paper about how you end up on the streets with the children. The 2 of you just don’t get it..You are being Judged more for the path you have picked for your children to have to go down. not for being addicts.. The 2 of U are being Judged because U 2 stood on a street every day with the children with lye’s wrote on a cardboard sigh for a year. then other addicted family Member would stay with you at the Broadway motel and then talk about all the money Tim and you spent no Heroin and not the children. So why should the community stop you’ll just feed them a big lie about your life…we can only Hope you give your children a better new year then cardboard sighs,daily huger and homelessness.
howardfamily comment person @ 12:02 today, if you really cared you wouldn’t have posted what you just did. It will only invite hate toward them, regardless of how they live from now on. Talk to them in person, not to everybody in teh world on the internet. Lose the spite and take care of your own life…that would be wishing them the best.
Sink this article.
To shadaap already….I’m guessing it didn’t tear-part your family and cause sum of the painful drama in your families life.I’m guessing they didn’t steel from your mom just weeks before she past-a-way..and I’m guessing you didn’t got threatening Email for them ether.. And its not your dad crying when people ask him if hes the drug dealer in the paper.(That Tim talked about and blames) and the families is not calling you to say how Tim is beating on cheyanna again and Tim’s spent all the money again.How the kids are huger again. I’m guess its not Your kids names that Tim’s is using with the EPD when they stops him ether.doing more damage to my sons life..They need to take care of your own life and maybe start with appetizing to family members for what they have done and said to them. then maybe the family would stay off the internet.a long with completion of a drug treatment program..
Remember who talked to the paper first.and told the lies..
CPS stepped in last month and removed the children from Tim and Cheyanna.. family is going though the proses of getting them placed with them soon……..Tim and Cheyanna have also end there relationship…..
I dont even know what to write i just thought i would share that everytime i see this i am overwhelmed with regret and sadness i should have sacrificed the thought of depriving my ids of there dad and got out of that relationship before it dragged me down to almost the point of no return . But its all up to me know because there dad signed away parental rights a few months back but so the article puts it like im the hardcore addict, well im not homeless and i didnt sign there life away unlike the peice of shit i lost my children for if you would like to maybe punish the fuck face you can most lkely find him on 3rd street waiting for a hooker to feed his veins . hope this intriques your hatefull asses FUCK ALL OF YOU YOU WILL SEE KARMA IN THE LONG RUN AT LOEAST WISH US LUCK “US” I MEAN ME AND ‘MY’ CHILDREN I WILL SUCEED AND GET THEM BACK IN A HOME YOU WATCH!!!!!!!! HAVE A FUCKED DAY !
I feel bad and my heart goes out to you Cheyanna. How are you doing now? Is there anything at all you need? Please let me know. Hotel room for a night , food or clothing. Cant do much but I can spare a little.
Take care
Cheyanna has posted untrue information about the kids and Tim. Tim has not given up on the kids or “sign there life away”. Tim is in a clean and sober house and has been in recover for over 30 days with clean PEE. he has moved to the 2 part of the program. He is a part of the twins life’s seeing them 3-4x a week and working his life programs to put his life back together with the kids.
Where is this family now? Update at all? I see Tim is trying but where is Cheyanna? Did she leave town because of the backlash or is she homeless still??
Hello, Does anyone know where I can find Cheyanna? Is she still in Eureka?
Timothy is doing really good.he is staying with his uncle.He has 100 days clean and spent Saturday,with the twins for their 4th birthday party at a park in town. He is now found a job and is working 5-6 day a week with 6 day being overtime. he starting a budget and a saving account to prepare to get the twins back full time.
Tim next goals looking for a 2 bedroom apartment in the next 3 weeks.
Tim is leaning how to be dad and mom and doing good.
Cheyanna is living with a 50+ man over on Bay street in Eureka and has not seen the twins in over 5 months.sad!
Since I have known cheyanna I’ve seen her go from a victim of having unconditional love for what she thought was a man and the father of her children . The last time I spoke to him which was less then the time he claims to be clean. He was calling begging cheyanna to sell her body to a lesbian so he could get high.someone who is that low and desperate less than 100 days ago.seems unreal what his family or whoever updated this claims I believe is premature.CHEYANNA,on the other hand without new clothes,family with a nice home to facilitate the appearance of sobriety.she has In fact been drug free without any assistance from medication,professional help for 49 days.I have been with her every single day 24/7 I know she’s been clean,when she is emotionally ready she will contact the proper people to begin her way back to her children.she was not court ordered and she did not have any family or finical support she will succeed In her time .
Timothy family would have ever helped unless he was getting professional help.and doing a program weekly. and got a job.
Cheyanna has had a family to help her we would have give cheyanna the same has Timothy.cheyanna would have got professional help over a year a go she would still have her kids.
Tim’s family has always said its about the kids not the parents.but 1 parent had to be clean and sober to have the kids in a safe and healthy place.
There’s no use to write a long heart filled comment cause everytime I do it gets taken off of here so if you want my side of all of this my email is cheylong45@yahoo.com and yes I live where they say so if u wanna hear what I think don’t depend on this site they have taken off both of cheyanna’ post
What 2 heart filled comments. I found the 2 you wrote one 1-1 2011 and the other on 4-30-2011 and the other by Cheyanna man. So what 2 are you talking about. So the truth is? I know the comment on 4-30-11 is not the truth. I hope she is emotionally ready soon.She is running out time.
First of all,whoever this is if you happen to get a hold of the supposed family she has stashed away tell them just like chey has with no responce that she needs help and support.because in cheys world her mom is out of the area all the time and has no single stitch of help to offer her. Two tims family is like a ticking time Bomb waiting to go off on me or Tim at any time all tims family has ever offered me was prescription pills,threats to me And Tim and eating all my food ramps then kicking me and my kids out if there was any help from the howards I had a chance to get I wod have to lower my standards and be with a boy who can’t even sexually perform due to his lack of everything besides a shriveled foreskin I’m still clueless to how I became pregnant with by his 3 inch erect excuse for a male sex organ also not to mention him training my child to know which object to bring to him to out of his paraphernalia he always had around us when I was dealing with all this shit why no help then? Why now? Like I said before I’m 50 days clean I don’t like to glorify myself I’m starting AOD on Friday and I detoxed alone no pills! And no doctors ! My man on the other hand which yes is over 50 has been clean for over 25 yrs and e exercises twice a day with chey the. Comes home on a bad night and makes me go into a complete orgasmic state at least once on a good night I can’t remember how many and actually my mans over 60! Tims 24? Get a clue and please no more online laundry washing you are more than welcome to come to the address u posted of ours and talk like adults or maybe this is your style I know it’s tims
Just wanted to let everyone know cheyanna has started taking clean urine tests and going to healthy moms she working on getting a job and gets to visit her kids next week
Just wanted to let everyone know, nobody really gives a shit about this couple except bored losers who don’t have enough problems of their own that they want to sit at a computer and torment people less fortunate than them.
Well this is the only way tims family has tried to communicate I’m not gonna sit head and let them think they are all higher than mighty so ya I know I’m getting bored to and pissed
Hello I’m not sure if anyone still keeps up on this thing still but today I was driving down 7th st eureka and seen Tim walking holding hands with his younger cousin? I’m sure of it what’s all that about? Sure don’t look like progress to me can’t wait to see my kids next week still clean and staying strong !!! Happy holidays
LOL Tim was Not holding hands,They locked elbows skipping down the street Because Tim is happy that he has the money so he can take his cousin to the movies has a birthday girfts. I guess you missed him walking his other cousin down Harris St to the mall the day before.If you need to know more he is working 40+ hour at the Sun valley Farms and 4 hr family farm on Sundays,4 hour visitation each time with family supervising the visitation in the community, cell phone, 3 accounts at coast central credit union, this weekend bought a Dodge Dakota, next is the apartment in December..great progress.
I just talked to my worker today she told me Tim is not receiving any more visits then me and I have a witness to them holding hands SARA!! Cause I know it’s u why don’t u have Tim defend himself instead of his family always getting him out of trouble I would rather hear from him it would be alot more credible or maybe some positive communication instead of this dumb game he was carrying flowers Tim never even got me flowers when I had his children??? Why couldn’t he straighten up when he had me and the kids ? I’m happy for him but clueless to how he could put me thru all that and then just forget about me when he has the world handed to him by u guys? All I have is my sobriety and hope
My Family and I had a great time with the twins(Janice n Timothy) on Christmas eve and Christmas day.hope everyone in Humboldt county had a merry Christmas.and a happy new year..
Happy new year and happy early bday Tim hope ur doing good and staying clean ,
Chey
Hi I saw u walking today u look great I hope that if I can’t u get our children they love us both anyways just thought I’d say hi I saw u wave I’m still clean 135 days peace !
Just in case anyone reads this I wanted you all to knnow I got my kids back