A couple hundred people took to the streets of Eureka on Thursday night to decry the election of Donald J. Trump in a protest Police Capt. Steve Watson called “passionate but peaceful.” Protesters gathered at the Old Town Gazebo, marched up to the Humboldt County Courthouse and back over the course of a couple of […]
Steve Watson
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UPDATE: Temporary Homeless Sleeping Area Abruptly Halted (with Video)
As on many other mornings, the deadline for campers to leave the temporary sleeping area came and went with people packing their belongings onto shopping carts in the mud as the Eureka Police Department stood by and waited. The official deadline was 9:30 a.m., but at 11:30 the last of the 30-plus people staying in […]
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Clash Over Care: Protesters Face Off Over Skilled Nursing Closures
Two large and loud groups of protesters filled the sidewalk in front of Partnership Healthcare Plan’s regional office on Eureka’s Fifth Street this afternoon. Both sides want the same thing: for the three skilled nursing homes slated to close and displace vulnerable North Coast seniors to stay open. The point of contention was why, exactly, […]
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Eureka’s Temporary Homeless Sleeping Areas Here to Stay
It has been six months since the city dissolved the long-standing homeless camp in the Palco Marsh. The fall’s first storm has visited, bringing with it ripping winds and record rain. At least 30 people spent the storm newly housed, thanks to the efforts of Betty Chinn, the city of Eureka and the Humboldt County […]
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Eureka City Council to Discuss Butane Ordinance, New Homeless Sleeping Area
Two explosive topics are slated to come before the Eureka City Council this evening. City staff has recommended the council adopt an ordinance restricting butane sales within city limits. Butane is often used to make hash or honey oil with sometimes dangerous results, as makeshift laboratories in residential homes have been known to explode. In […]
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Evictions Ongoing in PalCo Marsh
There were more reporters, police and clergy than homeless people in the PalCo Marsh this morning as the City of Eureka made a final sweep of the area, forcibly evicting those remaining in the camps. As of 7:30 a.m. at least half of the residents remained, according to accounts, despite repeated warnings over the last […]
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City Mulls Shelter Crisis as Activists Protest Police Presence in PalCo Marsh
Tomorrow evening the Eureka City Council will meet to discuss two items related to the city’s homeless: the feasibility of a temporary, sanctioned camp and whether or not the city should declare a shelter crisis. City Manager Greg Sparks said a site has been identified as a potential temporary camp, a city-owned parking lot at […]
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UPDATED: Eureka Shooting Leaves Officer Wounded, Suspect Killed
Multiple local police agencies are investigating an officer-involved shooting that left an officer wounded and a suspect dead in Eureka this afternoon. Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills said at a press conference — audio of which can be found here and here — that a California Highway Patrol Officer initiated a traffic stop near the […]
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UPDATE: EPD Identifies Victim of Saturday Shooting
Capt. Steve Watson says his department has identified the 31-year-old man killed near Hammond Park on Saturday night as Elliot Michael Walin. A second man admitted to the hospital with a gunshot wound has been confirmed as connected to the case. Walin was arrested in 2013 after allegedly running over a sheriff deputy’s foot in […]
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City Council to Revisit Open Space Property Management Ordinance; Housing Analysis Timetable Still Unclear
The Eureka Police Department, Humboldt County County Sheriff’s Office and City of Eureka visited the PalCo Marsh area behind the Bayshore Mall yesterday to remove traces of homeless camps. EPD recently announced officers would do less enforcement on a specific area of the marsh, just north of the Bayshore Mall. Campers were told that they must […]
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Multiple Agencies Push Homeless Campers to a “Safer” Place
Kathleen Hytholt doesn’t know where she’s going to go. Hytholt has been living in a makeshift shelter in the greenbelt at the corner of Sixth and T streets in Eureka for two months. She has been homeless for three years. The young people in the camp call her “Mama Kat.” Their kids call her “Grandma […]
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An Old Town Arrest
First, a familiar sound. A shopping cart rattling against the sidewalk. It’s a late summer evening, and the neon lights of the old Ritz building at the corner of Third and F have just come on, superfluous for now as the sky is still pale blue and full of peach light. Then, a second sound. […]