Participants in the Arcata Children’s Center School Age program. Photo courtesy Diana Herrera

Jessica Callahan

Special to the Eye

ARCATA – Arcata Rooney McKinleyville Children’s Center (ARMCC) closed its school-age program on Jan. 31. The school-age program provided after-school, vacation and summer care to children in Arcata.

ARMCC is an Arcata-based non-profit that has been providing preschool and school-age care for low-income and full-pay families for more than 30 years.

The after-school program opened as an extension of the Arcata Children’s Center preschool program in 1978. Between 1978 and 1989, Arcata School-Age program operated programs at all three Arcata Elementary School District schools.

In 1989, after a collaboration with the City of Arcata and the AESD, the Arcata Children’s Center School-Age Program moved to portable classrooms on the Bloomfield property.

Most of the children who attend the school-age program came from Sunset and Bloomfield elementary schools.

The program served 60 to 65 children between two classrooms in a typical year. When Bloomfield Elementary closed in 2006, it took a toll on the program.

Without a school on-site, students now had to be transported by parents or school buses. Enrollment began to suffer, but was surviving due to the need for subsidized care. Since many of the after-school programs at elementary programs were full pay, Arcata School-Age program was still able to provide a sliding fee scale to low income families although full pay families were also enrolled.

As the state economy faltered, ARMCC suffered as state subsidized child care was significantly cut. Cuts meant less money coming in; yet insurance, employee cost and everything else increased. To make things worse, ARMCC was hit hard repeatedly the last few years when the budget was not signed on time.

During that time, programs like ARMCC are not given their money from the state, forcing the programs to deplete reserve funds and take out loans to keep the doors open. ARMCC fund-raised, sold assets and applied for grants in an effort to keep their head above water but none have been enough to cover the cuts.

Facing a $15,000 deficit, the board voted to close the school-age program in an effort to reduce costs and try to keep the Arcata and McKinleyville pre-school centers open.

The closure of the Arcata School-Age program leaves only one low cost afterschool option for Arcata. Arcata Elementary School offers a subsized after school program but during the breaks and summer they are available on a fee basis and families who previously qualified for subsidized care are unlikely to be able to afford the fee.

Theresa Johnson, whose grandchild was enrolled in the ARMCC school-age program, is not sure what she is going to do. The fee for the after-school program at Pacific Union is more than she can afford.

Her only option right now is to cut back her work hours and hope to get a voucher through Changing Tides that will help her pay for after-school care.

There are few other child care centers that offer subsidized or sliding fee child care in Arcata.

HSU Children’s Center, which gets additional funding from the university and is also only available to HSU students, staff or faculty. North Coast Children’s Services has additional funding from federal Head Start.

Even with the support of these other sources, HSU Children’s Center and North Coast Children’s Services are suffering and have been forced to make drastic cuts to their programs.

Children of the Redwoods, which is the only other state subsized program in Arcata other than ARMCC and HSU (which is only for HSU-associated people) had to cut its program to a half-day during the school year only due to state budget cuts. So it is not a viable child care option for most working families.

ARMCC, which is a small nonprofit without an anchor to a larger funding source is facing desperate times. Yet the need for child care is still there.

The Arcata Children’s Center is almost fully enrolled but the proposed cuts to child care are devastating.

These cuts to child care, as they are proposed, will destroy subsidized child care in Humboldt county. Child care is an essential infrastructure allowing parents to be part of the workforce. A loss of subsidized child care would not break but sever the backbone of our community.

Local nonprofit child care needs support just as much as our local businesses. Of course they need money but more than that, they need their community. Board members, grant writers, and fundraisers are always needed.

Purchasing raffle tickets or supporting their fundraising brings in money these programs need and helps keep the doors open.

Jessica Callahan serves on the board of ARMCC and on the Local Child Care Planning Council, though this piece reflects her personal views.

• Write a letter or email to your representatives expressing your support for child care subsidies

• Allow employees flexible scheduling to accommodate child care schedules

• Offer space to a child care provider at low or no cost

• Streamline requirements for permitting child care centers and homes

• Offer child care benefits to employees such as reimbursements/vouchers or flexible spending accounts

• Adopt a center or Family Child Care Home

• Speak to as many people as you can about the importance of child care as part of the economic infrastructure of our county

• Visit your elected official’s office at the local, state and federal level

• Inform your local Board of Supervisors and state representatives that child care is a priority for you

• Talk about issues facing young children with others who share your concern

• Learn about important legislative bills and other current policies that affect children and families

• Understand how the budget process works

• Participate in local, state or federal activities related to improving access, quality and affordability of child care

• Join Parent Voices or a local advocacy group and make your voice heard.

• VOTE – keep aware of elections of local Boards of Supervisors, state Senate and Assemblymember, as well as federal officials.

Find out if they support family-friendly policies and vote accordingly.

ss.ca.gov/elections/votereg1.html

• Encourage local officials to support local initiatives that support parents and providers

• Volunteer and speak up with and for Parent Voices or other children’s advocacy organizations

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Humboldt Mediation Services facilitator Chip Sharpe. KLH | Eye

Note: Humboldt Mediation Services has released its compilation of ideas aired at last week’s Plaza scoping session on how to abate excessive behavior on Halloween and New Year’s Eve. These include initial thoughts of attendees – responses to “What would you like to see accomplished by this meeting?”, reports from the five subcommittees and a synopsis of ideas expressed at the Jan. 24 meeting. – Ed.

ARCATA COMMUNITY PLAZA SOLUTIONS

The Arcata Plaza as the Center of the Arcata Community

January 24, 2012

General Themes of the Participants

*We need to assure SAFETY on the Arcata Plaza

*The Arcata Plaza is a valuable RESOURCE for the entire community

*We must establish a BALANCE of control between ‘law enforcement’ and the ‘people’ using the Arcata Plaza

*The Arcata Plaza belongs to the ENTIRE community and needs to embrace ALL people

*In order to sustain the unique and positive culture of Arcata the whole community needs to be an active participant in growing an attitude of RESPECT and APPROPRIATE behavior for all citizens who use the Arcata Plaza

*Solutions regarding Arcata Plaza use need to include a ‘BIG PICTURE’ perspective—multiple avenues of use need to be addressed and problem-solved.

Small Group Brainstorms and Suggestions

*Citizen Volunteers for Plaza Clean-up and Crowd Control

*Community Education Campaign to develop respect, pride and care (vested interest) of Plaza

*Review of Plaza Conduct ‘Ordinance’

*Look at Multiple Solutions for a healthy Arcata Plaza that serves the entire Community

*Spread activity out beyond the Plaza—multiple venues   (coordinate food/music)

*Create a Plaza Event to celebrate our Community Pride (like I St.)

*Make it ‘Fashionable to be Respectful and have Fun’

*Work in collaboration with police and other community groups to create a Happy and Safe Plaza

*Look at Plaza ‘Nightlife’ interests and issues

*Continue to have meetings that bring diverse ideas together with a focus on ACTION

Personal Solution Offerings

*Create and work in small action groups designed to address specific plans that resolve Plaza issues with meetings away from the Arcata City Hall  (Private homes—D St. Neighborhood Center—etc.)

>Volunteers >HSU >SAMBA >DRUMMERS (Pat, Robyn, Oliver, Eric)

*Arcata Police will work with ALL groups (Tom)

*Positive ‘Vibe Squad’—Spread the Joy

*Main Street collaboration (Jennifer)

*Nightlife committee (Susan)

*Within 2 weeks—City of Arcata needs to facilitate another inclusive community meeting to follow-up

on what we started at this meeting

Next Steps

*Develop Action groups/committees to discuss ‘today’s outcome’

>Survey/Assessment Committee >Nightlife Committee >General Idea/Action Committee

*Information about today’s meeting, all other small committee meetings and next larger community

meeting will be posted on City of Arcata website—a Facebook page will be developed for ‘The Plaza

Study Group’—Robyn Paschall from the Samba People will take responsibility for getting the info from our large meeting to participants—The Arcata Eye will be publishing information from the large group.

Future meetings to be announced!!

REPORT FROM FIVE GROUPS

January 24, 2012

No. 1

Balance—Review of ordinance of Plaza Behavior

Clean-up group of citizens, volunteers

Campaign of education-communicate in community with respect and pride and care of Arcata

No. 2

McKinley Statue (Donate/sell to museum)

Group regarding resources

Communicate ahead of time

Off-Plaza events

Use Samba/drummers for crowd control

Review/amend town sound ordinance

No. 3

Multiple solutions number one thing

Alternative event (like I Street event)

Other venues—overflow from Plaza (coordinated event, food/music)

Process/Task Force developed to get this going

Another future meeting later

Fashionable to have fun with respect

No. 4

Community Plan now

$

Space for performers

Community Center

Close off McKinley

Volunteers collect glass bottles, other projectiles, etc.

Contact HSU student body

Local media

Report from Five Groups

Page Two

January 24, 2012

No. 5

Samba—as leaders, for crowd control, for clean-up

Ownership of community (volunteers?)

Combination of techniques (not just Police)

Create a planned/coordinated event

Survey of town for nightlife interests

Volunteer commission

Regulated entry points (wrist bands, fee)

City of Arcata

Bar/business owners

Samba/music/entertainment

Participants of celebration

Hotel Samba leads volunteer group to plan a  specific event or larger and smaller events

January 24, 2012

THE BIN

Facebook page:  Plaza Study Group, created by Hannah Joy

Robin Paschall→Main Contact Task Force (aka: Positive Vibes Squad)

HYPERLINK “mailto:aquafoxx210@gmail.com” aquafoxx210@gmail.com

SOLUTIONS/PERSONAL

Task Force—Coalition/Volunteer Effort

Peg—HSU

Robyn—Samba

Oliver—Samba

Eric—Drummer

City needs to facilitate process for another meeting (better time than 8:00 a.m.)

Meetings outside City Hall

My home

D Street Neighborhood Center

Positive Vibe Squad

Get word out to HSU

Tom/Police—work with all groups

Jennifer Main Street

Susan—sub-committee/night life

Spread the joy

EVALUATION

Task Force—Discuss today’s outcome

Survey Committee—Small group

→Assessments/Big Picture

Night life—Small group

Another general meeting/soon

>Flush out today’s ideas

Two weeks/afternoon

Who/Where/What to do from here

Communication among all

Arcata will post information

Robyn/Danger Drum Beat

Google Documents

Accessible to anyone—can be edited and changed

INITIAL ALL-GROUP GO-ROUND

January 24, 2012

Keep people safe

Spread concentration/policy shift

Sound ordinance revision

Build on positives of community

Find solution

Exploring other activities

Not happy with Halloween

Agreement for entertainment

Want balance—no free-for-all/no police state

High School perspective

Work on Plaza/workplace peace

Bar perspective/business

Property/people, safe/respect

Nighttime solution

Coalition/alcohol/drugs

Drummer/post happy atmosphere

Drummer/Police relationship

Peaceful resolutions

Keep positive atmosphere on Plaza

Agreement with using common Plaza

Access to Plaza

More coordinated activity—Police/businesses/Samba

Disappointed in overreaction—Access to commons

Peace

Protect plants and flowers

Recognize differences between attitude drummers

Creative solutions that include drummers

Balance—drumming/enforcement

Reasonable solution

Samba—creative solution

Maintain culture in safe way

Samba and protection on Plaza

Respect people who live on Plaza

Clear understanding of issues→Plan of action

Initial All-group Go-Round

Respectful party on Plaza

Teamwork

Back to balance of artists/drummers and City officials on Plaza

Drum “is not a weapon,” want safety, needs to be a common theme

Sound ordinance—Balance/safety & fun

Manage and enjoy Plaza resource

Celebrations and everyday community (nighttime economy)

HSU Police help with control

“Appropriate behavior in public places”

All people Plaza share

Keeping Plaza safe/accessible for celebration

Happy medium

Find ways to make night fun/safe

Communicate solutions with community

Keep privilege of access to Plaza year-round

Keep people off statue

Channel ideas to permanent solution

Fashionable to behave well

Move forward—festival/all-ages celebration

Look at other community solutions

INITIAL ALL-GROUP GO-ROUND

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The NCRC’s Food Pantry is our food box program available once/month per USDA criteria for low-income local households. We averaged 248 boxes per month in 2011. Food for People, (707) 445-3166, has been covering for the NCRC by providing food box distribution on Tuesdays at the Arcata Presbyterian Church.

Every afternoon along with our food box distribution we also offer gleaning of bread, fruits and vegetables donated by area merchants. We saw over 30 people per day come in for supplemental food in 2011. This service is available to our homeless and housed community, but currently is unavailable until we are able to reopen.

All of our program participants have access to daily meals and the community meal is offered two days/week. Some 8,500 hot, nutritious meals were served in the last half of 2011.

The service center has had showers and laundry service since its inception. We do a lot to keep people clean and healthy. Over 2200 showers were taken in 2011.

Not overlooking the importance of being clean, access to showers helps stem the tide of skin ailments that would otherwise occur. Over 900 loads of laundry were washed by and for our program participants.

We also distribute toothpaste and toothbrushes to the needy. Over 500 pairs of new socks were given out last year as foot care is one of the greatest needs to those who are without shelter. Murphy’s Sunny Brae just donated over 60 pairs of socks, several knitted caps and 15 packages of new underwear. We are planning on distributing these in the very near future.

Utilizing existing programs as a tool, we give clients the opportunity to learn new skills and gain dignity by providing services to others. This voluntary, hands-on participation imparts a sense of personal empowerment and helps individuals attain the personal tools necessary to improve their own life circumstances.

When given an opportunity to be useful, mental health often improves and the desire to abuse substances decreases. This is Back to Basics, our integrated program which was averaging around 50 people per year moving into employment.

NCRC provides a host facility for Homeless Court, a Superior Court service that provides a way for homeless individuals to “pay” for their minor infractions through community service. This program helps promote our value of healthy self-reliance. The Arcata Presbyterian Church served as the location this month. It is our hope that the next Homeless Court in March will return to the NCRC.

The NCRC has contracted with the County to provide transportation assistance for individuals and families that have verifiable shelter and/or employment in a location outside of Humboldt County. We also try to provide transportation for our clients to get to and from their local appointments.

One of our most successful programs is our Extreme Weather Shelter. We are eager to get this program going again. It requires a financially healthy organization. This is second on our priority list to restore. Food service is our first priority.

The NCRC has worked very hard at developing services and programs that are a hand up and not just a hand out.

Ways to help: Financial contributions are always welcome and can be mailed to NCRC, 501 Ninth St., Arcata, CA 95521. If interested in serving in any capacity, please e-mail ncrcsupport@gmail.com

Derk and Wendy Schulze are board members of the NCRC. In their spare time Derk pastors Sunny Brae Church and Wendy helps children learn to read.

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Libidinous hussies clamor for attention in the breeding pen at Cypress Grove Chevre's Dow's Prairie goat dairy. Photos by KLH | Eye

Kevin L. Hoover

Eye Editor

McKINLEYVILLE – The goats are good to go, even hot to trot, at Cypress Grove Chevre’s (CGC) new dairy on Dow’s Prairie Road in McKinleyville.

But only figuratively. For now, they seem content to flirt and gambol inside the repurposed horse pens that their human overseers are calling the “red light district.”

There, the randy ruminants which compose the beginning of CGC’s permanent herd are making whoopee, with the first batch of kids anticipated in June.

Bob McCall and Ryan Andrus commune with one of their fuzzy charges.

“We’re going to have one of the genetically best herds in America,” says Bob McCall, CGC sales and marketing director. Each of the 195 “starter” goats was hand-picked for their high pedigrees.

CGC undertook creation of its own dairy for several  reasons. Among them, to meet booming demand for its premium cheese, and in the longer term, to help grow Humboldt’s goat scene by implementing its vision of a modern dairy that is both artisinal in quality and industrial in scale.

CGC walked away from its original plan for a multimillion-dollar goat dairy in Arcata after neighbors of the Arcata Bottom site, known as the Gilardoni Property, reacted with a combination of scare rhetoric about goat waste killing children and physically menacing company employees.

This boy made himself irresistible to the girl-goats with liberal use of urine-cologne, gaining a tousled hairdo that looks as though it was styled that way. The bling helps too.

The harsh rebuke of a proposal that the company had offered to shape in consultation with the neighbors – despite no public process being required due to its siting on land already zoned for agriculture – triggered a blowback of anguish at the missed opportunity by many who supported the dairy. It also gave fresh momentum to establishment of an open-space greenbelt around Arcata, one in which this sort of ag activity would be banned.

All that seems like a distant bad dream now, as 15 miles north of the ever-hyperpoliticized Arcata rhetoric, new hoop barns rise on the company’s tranquil, 37-acre Dow’s Prairie dairy while goats frolic in their pens.

McCall acknowledges that the bitter Arcata experience –which he called “water under the bridge” –  resulted in a better situation for CGC and its herd after all. “We’re very happy with this piece of property,” McCall said. “It has a lot more to offer than the Gilardoni Property.”

Parent company EMMI, he said, is bankrolling the new dairy and expansion of the Arcata manufacturing plant at an estimated $8.5 to $9 million, while leaving decisionmaking to local CGC management.

The rising foundation for one of the three expansive, open-ended barns.

Overseeing the new herd and dairy is Ryan Andrus, who managed a dairy in San Mateo County for five years before moving to Humboldt to take on the CGC project. Having studied environmental science and chemistry, Andrus is eager to help mature the enterprise, especially given the high-quality tools he’s been given to work with.

“There’s definitely great genetics here,” Andrus says, looking over the piebald herd. “That’s something that excites my scientific side.”

Even to the untrained eye, the handsome animals suggest quality breeding, with sleek coats, bright eyes and perky demeanor. They jostle and bah for attention, perching eagerly on fence rails to get a good view of visitors.

The excited bleating ceases as they eagerly accept nuzzles, eyes closing in bliss while receiving a hearty neck scritch, not hesitating to sneak a curious nibble on a coat cuff.

Three breeds mingle in the pens, each chosen for the distinctive qualities of the milk: Saanen, which offer high volume and long lactation; Toggenburgs, whose milk has higher milk fat; and Alpines, said to offer the most consistent quality.

“It’s all for the cheese,” McCall says.

The nascent herd’s genetic rigor will be further bolstered with use of frozen semen left over from CGC founder Mary Keehn’s early goat-breeding days. “Mary was an all-star breeder,” McCall boasts with pride. “She came out of nowhere and started winning championships. Her genetic lines are still winning championships a couple of decades after she got rid of the herd.”

The herd’s eventual size is not set, as CGC is determined to develop it in holistic fashion, using best practices and maturing the facility as needs require. The initial idea is to roughly double the herd every year.

“We’ll play that by ear,” McCall says. “That’s one of the benefits of growing the herd on your own – you can find the sweet spot in terms of your dairy, acreage and so on.”

For now, the 190 does, four bucks and lone hermaphrodite dwell in the sturdy but ramshackle former horse pens, but evidence of a modernized future is all around.

Structural parts for the three hoop barns are stacked along the muddy fields. Their stubby foundations suggest their grand scale and modernity. Each will be 365 feet long and 65 feet wide, with vinyl roofing offering natural light. Open ends will offer the goats constant access to a pasture.

A milking parlor and other support facilities are also planned. A dilapidated farmhouse which had been infested with powder post beetles is being rebuilt with $100,000 in improvements.

Andrus will need a comfortable residence to return to at night, as the life of a goat farmer is a demanding one. “It’s a very difficult business,” McCall says. “The goats have to be milked twice a day, 365 days a year.”

Still, given proper attention, the hardy goats are more or less trouble-free. “Me, myself and them, that’s all they need,” Andrus says of his raucous ruminants. “They take care of themselves.”

In Dow’s Prairie, neighbors take care of neighbors. Some have come over to offer Andrus and his wife warm greetings and housewarming gifts like fruit and baked goods.

And then there are the less-cordial Arcata neighbors, some still with an axe to grind.

The dairy’s product will be processed at CGC’s Arcata manufacturing plant, which will have to be expanded to accommodate the volume. The company will need Planning Commission approval, preceded by discussions with several of the City’s citizen advisory committees.

That could mean a reprise of some of last June’s controversy, as one of the louder Arcata dairy opponents from last June has already turned up with a critique of what turned out to be an old, discarded expansion plan dating back to 2002.

That’s why CGC is glad to have an orderly public process based on hard data and fact-finding rather than the kinds of assumptions and misinformation that ruled the discussion last year.

For McCall, the proof is in the doing, and his most pressing concern now is to create a model facility in McKinleyville – one consistent with CGC’s international reputation for a top-tier product. When construction is complete and settled into an operational groove, the company plans to open it up for scheduled tours and open houses.

“We’ve offered a lot of advice,” McCall says. “Now, hopefully, we can walk the walk and show the way.”

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Mayor Michael Winkler

Mayor Michael Winkler

Special to the Eye

Welcome HSU Students!

You have made a great choice in coming up to HSU in Arcata to go to school.

Back in 1997, I myself came here as a returning student to pursue a degree in Environmental Resources Engineering. Arcata is unique. It offers an unrivaled combination of natural beauty, a friendly small-town atmosphere, an active cultural and arts community and a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The hub of Arcata is the Arcata Plaza, a traditional town square dating back to the 1850s. The Plaza is where our many festivals happen. These include the North Country Fair, the Oyster Festival, Pastels on the Plaza and the Kinetic Sculpture Race and the All Species Parade. During most of the year the Plaza hosts the Arcata Farmers’ Market with some of the best locally grown food anywhere in the USA and music by local musicians. It is a true festival every week.

We have a very lively local arts scene with our monthly Arts Arcata hosted by local businesses, open studios twice a year, the North Country Fair and a wide variety of local galleries and studios. For younger people the City of Arcata sponsors the Arts in the Afternoon program.

For classic movies and live music close to the Plaza we have the restored Arcata Theater Lounge. Slightly west of the Plaza is the Arcata Playhouse which hosts live theater and music.

Protecting our local and global environment is very important in Arcata. We have a variety of local groups that you can get involved in including the Northcoast Environmental Center, Baykeeper, Green Wheels, the Humboldt Trails Council, Friends of the Marsh (FOAM) and the Jacoby Creek Land Trust, to name only a few. Volunteering with any of these great local organizations not only helps you protect the environment but helps you gain the valuable experience that employers so highly value.

There are also excellent opportunities to develop your business skills not only through your classes, but also through taking the first steps to develop your own business. If you have a great idea for a business the Economic Fuel Contest offers prizes of up to $25,000 in seed money to start your own business.

There are many great outdoor recreational opportunities in our area. Within walking or bicycling distance we have beautiful redwood forests, restored marshes, Arcata Bay, Lanphere Dunes and the Pacific Ocean. Whether your preference is mountain biking, hiking, birding or surfing all of these are available close by.

We may not have all the variety of San Francisco or Los Angeles, but we have a wide variety of restaurants and fresh local foods.

Respect is a two-way street. We respect you as newcomers to our area, but we also expect you to respect us and the town and local environment that we so highly value. On New Year’s and Halloween and on weekends having a good time is great, but you need to respect your neighbors and not leave a mess for someone else to clean up.

In Arcata we are avid recyclers and do our best to minimize our impact on the local environment. Cars have their place, but I encourage all of you to walk, bike skateboard or take the bus (using your Jack Pass, included in your tuition) whenever you can.  Best of all and lowest cost would be not to have a car at all.

I hope all of you have a very meaningful, fun and rewarding experience in Arcata and that many of you choose to make this your permanent home.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about anything that I mentioned in this article or any other questions about Arcata city government – e-mail me at mwinkler@cityofarcata.org.

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Eye Editor

SUNNY BRAE – Sunny Brae residents were shocked last week when one of its “downtown” restaurants closed with little warning. A sign in the door of Fiesta Café announced the Dec. 30 closure of the Mexican restaurant, located in a former bank on Crescent Way.

Fiesta fans registered their sadness at Fiesta’s passing on the Eye’s Facebook page. “Boo. They were great,” said Theresa McLaren. “Our family spent many a happy, delicious time inside those walls.” said Fionnuisce Saoirse.

Owners Rogelio and Guillermina Luna said they too were sad to have to close the place, but that they had to make difficult decisions about where to focus their energies.

“We know how people feel,” Rogelio said. “We love that place.”

Rogelio said the decision to consolidate at the sister restaurant, the Fiesta Grill and Cantina on Janes Road, came after a combination of difficult short- and long-term circumstances.

The Sunny Brae restaurant recently lost two cooks in one month. Rogelio said he had spent three months training one of them, only to have the cook quit and go to work for a competing restaurant because it offered 50 cents more per hour.

Apart from that, he said, he and his wife Guillermina had been at it 29 years and that the grind of daily commuting between the Sunny Brae Fiesta and the Fiesta Grill was taking a toll.

“My number one priority was my wife not going back and forth,” he said.

Further, their kids are now in college, and have no plans to take over the business when the Lunas retire. “The kids aren’t following in our steps,” he said.

All in all, Rogelio said, “We had to choose one of the places.”

They settled on the Janes Road restaurant because, with its full liquor license and private bar, it offers more features and flexibility. It is also able to absorb five of the 15 former Sunny Brae employees, and possibly more.

Hours at the Fiesta Grill and Cantina are Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Rogelio said he’d like to expand to Sunday service as well.

Looking back, Rogelio is proud that some who once worked at Fiesta have now gone on to start successful restaurants of their own, including Guillermina’s sisters, Luzmila and Carmela Sandoval.

“We are so proud that they’re doing so well,” he said. “They put their own spice, their own thing into it.”

As for the Sunny Brae restaurant property, which he and Guillermina co-own, he has had “three or four” inquiries from potential successors who would rent it and start their own eateries.

Rogelio said that after observing the packed coffee shops in the Plaza every morning, something other than another Mexican restaurant should move in.

“I want to see something else, like a breakfast place,” he said.

The owner of Sunny Brae Center, Rogelio has ideas for expanding that someday as well, and possibly adding buildings. He has spoken in the past of creating a new restaurant in what is now the center’s parking lot.

“I wanted to combine everything,” he said. “I’m always dreaming. I tell people, you have to have a dream.”

Guillermina said she was grateful to all of the Sunny Brae Fiesta’s loyal customers.

“I thank everybody,” she said. “They have been so supportive over the years.”

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Ken Newell tends to the Plaza during his days as a Public Works employee. KLH | Eye

Eye Staff Report

Former Public Works employee Kenneth Newell died Saturday evening from injuries sustained 11 days earlier when he was struck by a car Dec. 27 while working in a Eureka construction zone.

Newell, 68, suffered multiple injuries and had been removed from life support by his family four days previous.

Newell, a 33-year Public Works employee who left  to start his own road striping business, was struck from behind while grinding the roadway by Eugene Palmer, 17, of Eureka.

The California Highway Patrol said Palmer’s windshield had fogged over when he drove through road cones and into the construction site.

The CHP said that  if Newell died it would recommend that Palmer be charged with vehicular manslaughter.

Newell and three sisters were raised in Arcata. He graduated from Arcata High School in 1961 and served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1968.

A celebration of Ken Newell’s life is planned from noon to 4 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the Blue Lake Grange, 110 Hatchery Rd. in Blue Lake.

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Historical societies are not something new in order to get a grip on the past, but have been in effect hundreds of years. Amanda Laugensen, a keeper of history, informs that “The first historical societies were established in the wake of the American Revolution and were tied to the need to memorialize and institutionalize the memory of the revolution and the making of the American nation” (Laugesen 14). These societies started collecting information and data for their records from what was happening at the time to help insure that the future would still be aware of what had happened in America, shaping us into who we are today. This built a sense of nationalism and collectiveness in the existing states, which would later expand.

After the Civil War, people started to expand Westward, carving new territories, and a notion of a new United States (Laugesen 15). “For many of these newer communities of the West, historical societies were one of the few cultural institutions and were seen as providing a means to promoting culture and “civilization” in rough-and-ready frontier communities” (Laugesen 15). Historical societies went on to help establish a sense of community and understanding of togetherness.

Today, historical societies continue this mission. They have recorded, organized, and kept safe the millions of documents of birth and death records, photographs, and stories to create an overall American memory. Between museum and historical library records, just about every insight and fact known about our past has been accumulated and put into written form Richard Brown, co-author of The Making of Memory… illustrates historical libraries often as “the storing, and ordering place of the collective memory of [a particular] nation or people(s)” (Brown 17). These play a role in securing and shaping our “historical consciousness and identity” (Laugesen 13).

Because of our collective past, our communities are able to exist and function. Although historical societies inform people of dates, facts, and stories, that is not all they are about. Another big part of what it means to be a historical society, and why we should care, is their notion of spreading knowledge in a way so it is meaningful to you, as an individual and as part of the community.

We are all part of our own history, in search of finding out where we came from and who we are. In this modern day, according to Hayden White, author or “The Historical Event,” we are always in a quest to seek group identity as to “belonging to history” and “having a history” (White 9). Few people like the idea of coming out of thin air, out of nothingness. We are naturally social beings, having others around us in order to survive and remain content. By digging into our local histories and understanding our roots, we can have a better idea of who we are as a community.

Not everyone is blessed with the sublime knowledge of life, the universe and everything. Very few of us even have a compiled genealogical book passed down to us in order to get to know our roots, yet roots seem to be very important to people. Knowing where you are grounded and keeping in touch with your roots gives you a better understanding of yourself in knowing what you are made of. We like to keep in touch with family and old friends because having them from our past is a comfort in our present and future. Security is a reassuring feeling, even better when you get that not only from your household and friendships, but also from your community.

According to the Humboldt Historical Society website, their purpose is to “further an understanding and appreciation of all peoples, places, events, and activities of Humboldt County and related areas. Toward this end, they focus on acquiring, preserving, interpreting, creating, and sharing historical information, and by educating and assisting others to do the same” (“About Us”). This is what a historical society is all about.

Locally, we have the Historical Society Office on Eighth and H streets in Eureka, as well as numerous museums in the surrounding cities within the whole of Humboldt County. Getting involved is also easier than you may think. In order to branch out and support any local historical society, you can volunteer for them, go to museums, attend fundraisers, become an annual member or subscribe to newsletters, which in Humboldt’s case, is the quarterly magazine, the Humboldt Historian. This is a premier publication that is a great way to help out revenues, as well as learn about local history for your own knowledge and to expand and share with others. Even with funds from subscribers, historical societies still struggle without help from the government.

Although governments may name historical sites as such, if that site cannot generate enough funds to keep the electricity on, grounds trimmed, and property taxes paid, the government will have no choice but to build something that would get them more money on that valuable piece of property. The Humboldt Historical Society is a non-profit organization, and therefore does not receive any government funding, unlike most people think.

Most historical societies and museums have a difficult time keeping afloat. Robert Palmrose, past president and current board member of the Humboldt County Historical Society, says “The biggest thing with most organizations is trying to find funds. You get what you can, when you can, where you can.”

In Ventura County, California, at the Stagecoach Inn Museum where I volunteered, we would barely have five tours on some weekends. I found this surprising because of how amazing was the grandeur of the grounds, inn, and schoolhouse. Nearly nobody even knew of its hidden existence within the city. To the few people who volunteered and visited, it was like another home, everyone a big family, but the rest of the community was excluded because of their unawareness.

Not a lot of people in their teenage or younger adult years volunteer, leaving most of it up to passionate older retirees and curious younger kids. This makes sense due to the fact that volunteers are not paid, and so these age groups do not have as much of a need for financial backing than most adults. Volunteering as a seventeen year old, I found myself both far above the average kid age and even further below the older adult age.

Volunteering is a great and rewarding way to get involved. Palmrose reiterates that “volunteerism is the thing that keeps them [non-profit organizations] going… [He said there is] always a need to help them out with anything that needs to be done.” Although it does not grant you a monetary opportunity, it does help out with giving you a sense that you are doing something to better your community and yourself. By teaching the local people, and tourists, you are reaching out the branches of community to incorporate everyone to be part of the same tree. Amanda Kemp, writer in the New Directions for Adults and Continuing Education journal, claims that “When [local histories are] investigated critically and with creativity, learners can work together to understand the more complete picture of their community” (Kemp 46).

This knowledge and understanding is all thanks to your roots, or ancestry, which started growing in the first place in order to expand into a collective consciousness of the area. Even if your family did not directly contribute to history or is in the “books,” you are still welcomed to be interested and curious about what has happened to make this society sustainable. Working for a museum can help to better educate and expand your knowledge, as well as give you a sense of belonging. We are all part of our community as we grow and learn together.

Every community is a tree that is grown upon layers of branches and personal connections. If the world is made up of forests of these communities, it is the roots where it all began. These roots are close links to who we are as people and where we came form. By supporting your local historical society, you can learn more about what brought you to be where you are, as well as your community.

A rewarding way to help your historical society is to simply volunteer. We are all in this community together, but many of us do not know how we even got here, or why we gathered in the first place. By finding out more about your local history, you can build a better understanding of who you are in relation to your community. Nobody grew out of thin air, so remember and appreciate your roots!

 Works Cited

Brown, Richard Harvey and Beth Davis. “ The Making of Memory: The Politics of Archives, Libraries, and Museums in the Construction of National Consciousness.” History of the Human Sciences, 11.4 (1998): 17.

“About Us” Humboldthistory.org. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. humboldthistory.org/aboutus

Kemp, Amanda, and Marilyn McKinley Parrish. “(Re)membering: Excavating and Performing Uncommon Narratives Found in Archives and Historical Societies.” New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, 127 (2010): 45.

Laugesen, Amanda. “Keeper of Histories: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library and Its Cultural Work, 1860-1910.” Libraries & Culture, 39.1 (2004): 13.

Palmrose, Robert. Telephone Interview. 16 Oct. 2011.

White, Hayden. “The Historical Event.” Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 19.2 (2008): 9

Sorelle Fluke is a Humboldt State University student who wrote this paper for an English class.

Contact the Humboldt County Historical Society at (707) 445-4342, humboldthistory.org. Contact the Historical Sites Society of Arcata at (707) 822-4722, arcatahistory.org.

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Arcata High students Rebecca Smith, Faviana Schectman and Zoe Tinseth discuss the Plaza center barrier on New Year's Eve afternoon. Photos by KLH | Eye

Kevin L. Hoover

Eye Editor

PLAZA – Responding to demands that it do something to prevent a reoccurrence of Halloween’s near-riot, and potential harm to people and property, the City and Arcata Police mounted a major anti-mayhem effort on the Plaza New Year’s Eve.

That afternoon, Parks Division workers installed a flexible plastic fence around the entire center of the Plaza. The plastic palisade both demarked the off-limits zone and, by its flimsiness, deprived anyone so tempted of anything substantial to use as a missile or cudgel.

As the witching hour approached, the flimsy fence had become a novelty attraction it is own right.

Opinions were mixed on the fence’s efficacy and appropriateness. “I’m not opposed to this,” said Arcata High student Rebecca Smith, who had served as faux vice mayor of Arcata during the recent Student Government Day exercise. She said that after reviewing the damage toll of close to $10,000 on Halloween, preventive measures were prudent. Still, she advocated creation of other events throughout downtown as an alternative and solution to downtown destruction. “I think that’s a very good idea,” Smith said.

Others saw the fence as an attractive nuisance, or a challenge for determined partiers to surmount. “I think this is probably going to make people rebel more,” said Faviana Schectman. “This could create more potential anger,” agreed Zoe Tinseth.

The complex of APD vehicles at cordoned-off Eighth Street included a booking area for misbehavers.

By nightfall, that symbolic barrier had been augmented by swarms of police officers from neighboring agencies – Eureka Police, Ferndale Police, Fortuna Police, Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office, Humboldt State University Police and Rio Dell Police.

As the evening progressed, the Plaza was all but devoid of non-police officers. Most citizens skirted the square entirely, evidently assuming by the massive police presence that it was on “lockdown,” as one passerby was heard to mention.

Police did little to disabuse anyone of this assumption. Officers milled about not just in the fenced-off Plaza center, but on all the corners. As a crowd massed at Ninth and H streets, a small phalanx of officers formed a reverse delta formation at the planter, creating a disincentive to pass beyond the outer sidewalk. While crowd behavior can lead to a breakdown of personal standards by those involved, as evidently occurred on Halloween, this night the crowd effect worked to police advantage. Those among the roiling mass of celebrants chose to stick with the crowd, few breaking away for solo expeditions. Lacking an alpha to lead the charge beyond the outer sidewalks, the crowd remained off the Plaza altogether. The police’s psychological tactic worked, deterring all but a few approaches to the gossamer barrier surrounding at the Plaza’s core.

Police officers "guard" the Plaza. Though partiers could have walked right past them, they didn't.

The bluff was reminiscent of how an APD officer told 4/20 attendees last spring that the event had been “canceled” due to rain, which was impossible since it had never been formally scheduled by anyone. Then as now, the misdirection was effective. Rarely were there more than a dozen individuals on the main Plaza at any given time.

Police Chief Tom Chapman coordinated the massive multi-agency response from a cordoned-off complex of  APD vehicles located in the 600 block of Eighth Street on the Plaza’s southeast corner.

One support vehicle was used as a processing center for arrestees, while another trailer housed a small canteen for officers.

From within the new Incident Response Vehicle, APD brass monitored the action, or lack thereof, via a mast-mounted video camera looking down on the square. Chapman and Lt. Bart Silvers were able to zoom in on hot spots such as Ninth and H streets and redeploy officers as necessary.

APD Chief Tom Chapman and Lt. Bart Silvers watch the action, or lack thereof, inside the Incident Response Vehicle. A mast-mounted video camera allows them to zoom in on situations from all the way across the Plaza.

That became necessary when a man was dragged from a percussion circle on the corner of Ninth and H, halting the rhythmic exercise. He resisted arrest and was subdued by a half-dozen or more officers. The spectacle entranced the crowd and, as it surged beyond the corner planters to watch and point cell phones at the cop-on-drunk action, it briefly threatened to break through the imaginary barrier that was holding celebrants off the Plaza.

But police quickly carried the arrestee off, excitement died down and by 12:30 a.m. or so, the Plaza was no burlier than on any other weekend night. Virtually all of the action was concentrated along Tavern Row.

Police subdue an individual resisting arrest, to the fascination of the Ninth and H crowd. But that was the extent of the big excitement that night, and once he was carted off, it wasn't long before the crowd dissipated.

At 2:20 a.m. on New Year’s morning, Chapman issued a press release declaring the preventive measures a success. The release stated that during the course of the evening six arrests were made, plus five arrests for public intoxication and one arrest for driving under the influence.

What it cost

Chief Chapman said that APD rang up roughly $2,800 in overtime costs for APD officers on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day morning. There were other miscellaneous other costs too trivial to tally, such gas for the power generator at the mini-APD station. Food for officers was donated by local businesses.

Providing highly effective role modeling for fellow New Year's Eve carousers, Jeff Musgrave and Chakeeta chose to make love, not mayhem.

Chapman said that as a matter of policy, the number of officers deployed on the Plaza won’t be disclosed. However, ground observations that night easily places that number in the dozens, as APD was prepared for any eventuality.

Other police agencies which assisted that night did not bill the City for the mutual aid, and were paid by their respective jurisdictions. “They’re taking care of their own,” he said. Chapman ballparked the other agencies collective costs at about $2,500.

About that $30,000

Ever since the news of Halloween-related damage came out, an inaccurate figure of $30,000 has been bandied about for Plaza cleanup and repair costs. It persists despite the accurate numbers having been repeatedly published, with attribution to City officials.

The actual Halloween fixup figure is about $3,600, covering Plaza rehab the next day, according to Parks Supt. Dan Diemer. Another estimated $5,000 in damage was done to the Plaza’s irrigation system. that will be fully ascertained when the system is fired up this spring.

So where did the highly inflated $30,000 in Plaza damage number come from? Chapman takes responsibility for it, with qualifiers.

He said that in talking to Times-Standard reporter Jessica Cejnar the day after Halloween, he guesstimated the total cost of the previous evening’s mass derangement at $30,000 – with all costs included, City and civilian. These, Chapman said, include jail booking fees, broken windows and other property damage, emergency room visits, DA’s Office prosecutions, court time, Arcata Fire medical aid calls, ambulances and all other resources, public and private, required to address the All Hallow’s Eve aftermath.

Chapman’s ballpark estimate was accurately reported in the T-S, but some erroneously assume that it applies only to City of Arcata costs associated with the Plaza.

“I can’t fault the reporter, as I speak too freely sometimes and shouldn’t,” Chapman said. “I was speaking in the broader context and have to take responsibility.”

But, he added, “I still don’t necessarily disagree with the number,” insofar as it applies to the totality of costs from the Halloween debacle.

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