This is what investigators discovered at the second dumpsite. Courtesy HCSO

From HCSO Press Releases

HUMBOLDT – As much as most Humboldters treasure their natural surroundings, there are those who Just. Don’t. Care.

On Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 7:30 a.m., Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Green Diamond Resource Company property off Maple Creek Road, approximately one mile east of Korbel on a report of a hazardous materials spill and dumping.

Upon deputies’ arrival they discovered 95 five-gallon containers and five one-gallon containers of various types of paint had been left near a Green Diamond Resource Property gate. Some of the paint was oil-based and some was latex-based. Most of the paint was still in the containers, however some had spilled onto the ground. Some of the paint containers still had labels on them and some labels had been removed.

There are no known suspects at this time, but the investigation is continuing. The Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in locating the suspect(s). It is believed the suspect(s) dumped the paint between 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 3, and 10 a.m., Sunday , Sept. 5. HCSO can be reached at (707) 445-7251.

Another view of the heap.

Second dumpsite discovered

Later that day, at about 4:30 p.m., HCSO was again contacted by Green Diamond Security, which had located a second dumpsite. Deputies were dispatched to the scene, which was located approximately nine miles out Maple Creek Road from Korbel.

Deputies  located a pile of approximately 150 one-gallon paint cans on the ground. Many of the cans had broken open and paint had spilled onto the ground. There were also five five-gallon buckets of paint at the scene. Part of the pile of paint cans was covered by a blue plastic tarp, which was consistent with items located at the first dumpsite.

Many of the cans appeared to be old and rusty as if they had been stored somewhere prior to being dumped. “I’m thinking somebody cleaned out an old barn or shed,” said HCSO Sgt. Phil  Buihner. “Maybe a retired painter.”

The eco & legal alternative

The Humboldt Waste Management Authority offers a Household Hazardous Waste Facility in Eureka which accepts paint and other toxic materials. There is a $5 fee for up to 15 gallons of liquids.

This was the dumper's view of the mess as they drove away from it. Have you seen a truck with pale blue paint splattered on the back?

Eye Editor

Daphne supervising Companion Animal Foundation’s music department. KLH | Eye

SUNNY BRAE – Daphne is a fluffy foundling who turned up the morning of April 27 at Sunny Brae’s Companion Animal Foundation (CAF). Someone had left her locked up in a portable kennel out front. Though store policy disallows dumping of animals, the helpless nymph peering out from between the bars of the mini-jail was taken in.

Daphne quickly found a niche. With a friendly personality and a good customer service ethic, the young tabby quickly rose through the ranks and now reigns as Store Manager. Between naps, that is.

Daphne was on duty last Saturday, lounging atop the used LP records in the store’s back corner, accepting nuzzles.

“She helps with all kinds of things,” said CAF’s Laura Leonard. This includes standing vigilant watch over well-worn Greatest Hits compilations by Jay and the Americans and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. It was a tough gig, but Daphne pulled it off with enviable feline serenity.

In her three-plus months at the store, Daphne has both matured and mellowed. “She was sassy, but she’s toned it down,” Leonard said. That may have to do with being separated from the frisky youngsters in the kitten room.

Which is not to say that Daphne doesn’t like mingling. “She tolerates the hustle and bustle,” Leonard observed. “Even when customers bring their dogs in, she seems to do well with them.”

But Daphne yearns for something more – a home that isn’t a retail center. “She would like more than living in the store,” Leonard said.

Even though she’s a true spring chicken-kitten, Daphne the tabby tween now has a young adult look to her. This reduces her adoption appeal.

“Most people want kittens,” Leonard said.

And yet, Daphne still is a kitten at heart. Her Saturday siesta in the record section was followed by a stretch, a claw-scratch on the already-shopworn album covers (don’t tell Kim) and a leisurely loll on the store’s carpet. There, a patron’s tummy scratch was rewarded with a playful swat. Boundaries, lady.

“I wouldn’t say she’s a lap cat,” Leonard said, “but she enjoys attention.”

You can enjoy Daphne enjoying your attention by contacting CAF at (707) 826-PETS. She’s microchipped, disease free, vaccinated, tanned, rested and ready. OK, not tanned.

If you know of an animal that you would like to see displayed in this column, e-mail Helen at helen@arcataeye.com.

Eye Correspondent

HUMBOLDT – A local movement has emerged opposing the county’s longstanding ban on the sale of raw, unpasteurized milk but county staff has warned against rescinding it.

The Board of Supervisors heard contrasting presentations on raw milk at its Aug. 24 meeting. Raw milk supporters told supervisors that unpasteurized milk is safe, proven to have medical benefits and is even endorsed by the Girl Scouts of America.

Mark McAfee, owner of the Fresno-based Organic Pastures Dairy, said preoccupation with antibiotics and sterilization has led to the reduction of beneficial bacteria in our digestive systems. McAfee cited studies and linked sterilization of foods to the prevalence of diabetes.

“What have we done to American children?” he asked. “We’ve taken the bacteria out of their gut, we’ve fed them the wrong kinds of foods.”

Raw milk supporters wore buttons that said, “My Health, My Choice, My Right” and McAfee spoke for them. “They want the choice to decide on a food – not a drug – a food that doctors and perhaps your staff don’t understand.”

He told supervisors, “I would strongly suggest you don’t look to staff for this, but that you look into the science for this and make your own determinations – staff needs to learn a lot.”

Humboldt is one of only three counties in the state with a raw milk ban. The managers of Eureka Natural Foods and the North Coast Co-op both said that their customers are asking for raw milk and they want to provide it.

But Public Health Officer Ann Lindsay joined other county staff members in advising against reversing the county’s raw milk ban. “When we get health alerts from (the U.S. Centers for Disease Control) and the California Department of Public Health regarding unpasteurized milk recalls, I’m always delighted that the Board of Supervisors… had decided not to allow unpasteurized milk sales in Humboldt County,” she said.

That decision was made based on scientific evidence, Lindsay continued, and 24 states also have raw milk bans. Lindsay said that when she talks to health officers from other counties, they tell her that they wish their counties also had bans.

A long public comment session followed. Several dairy owners spoke, most of them concerned about effects on their industry if raw milk is made available and there’s a recall. But several people said their medical conditions cleared up after they switched to raw milk.

Supervisor Bonnie Neely sponsored the agenda item and supported lifting the ban. But her motion to examine its legality didn’t get support. Supervisor Mark Lovelace said there’s an “overwhelming medical opinion” that raw milk shouldn’t be legal and he can’t act against it unless county staff advises to do so.

But Lovelace was one of a majority of three supervisors who approved a modified motion to discuss the ban again at a future meeting. Supervisors Jimmy Smith and Jill Duffy voted against it.

Eye Editor

ARCATA – With the state budget crisis forcing early release of prisoners, it has fallen to local authorities to monitor and lessen the impacts on communities in which the freed prisoners reside.

On Wednesday, Sept. 1, officers from the Arcata Police Department’s Special Services Unit, assisted by Agents from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Eureka Parole Unit, conducted a parolee compliance check in the City of Arcata.

The residences of subjects on active CDCR Parole were visited by officers and agents to ensure the parolees were complying with the conditions of their parole.

As supervised parolees, areas within their control are subject to unannounced visits and searches without the need for a search warrant.

Of six parolees contacted, two-thirds were found to be in violation of the terms of their release. Four arrests were made for parole violations and warrants.

• Thirty-year-old Anthony Raya of Arcata was arrested for alleged possession of concentrated cannabis and parole violation.

• Thirty-one-year-old Seth Mallo of Arcata was arrested for alleged cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, maintaining a drug house and parole violation.

“It wasn’t a large grow,” said Detective Sgt. Todd Dokweiler. Nonetheless, several pounds of processed marijuana were located and seized. He said Mallo had no Prop 215 recommendations at the grow location.

• Twenty-year-old Vernon Johnson of Arcata was arrested for an outstanding warrant.

• Thirty-five-year-old Junior Ramirez of Eureka was arrested for alleged possession of concentrated cannabis and probation violation.

All of the suspects were placed on a parole hold and jailed. Their cases will be reviewed for a parole revocation hearing.

“This is something you’re going to see us do more of,” Dokweiler said.

He said that the alleged recidivists aren’t necessarily typical.

“Some of these folks are really trying to turn their lives around and they’re doing well in the community,” Dokweiler said.

Eye Editor

EUREKA – Arcata Police Park Ranger Kevin Stonebarger was injured in a vehicle accident in Eureka Sunday, Sept. 5.

Arcata Park Ranger Kevin Stonebarger

Stonebarger was driving home in his APD Ranger truck, a Ford F-150. According to EPD Traffic Officer Tim Jones, Stonebarger was headed south on H Street at 4:20 p.m. when an eastbound 1999 Hyundai Elantra driven by an unidentified adult woman a red light and entered the intersection. “She drove in front of him,” Jones said.

Stonebarger’s truck hit the Hyundai broadside, leaving the car “pretty much destroyed,” according to Jones. The woman was hospitalized with serious injuries, reportedly a broken collarbone and broken ribs. Stonebarger was treated and released at St. Joseph Hospital.

Jones said there was no indication of drugs or alcohol being involved in the accident.

Monday morning, Stonebarger said he was “really sore” from the accident. “My back is the worst,” he said.

Following a checkup with his doctor, Stonebarger said he might resume duty this week.

Stonebarger is one of Arcata’s two park rangers. He Ranger David Miller are credited with helping reduce abuses of Arcata’s parks and natural areas by illegal campers and others.

Eye Correspondent

HUMBOLDT – County planning commissioners agree that high-speed Internet service should be available to everyone but dealing with cumulative impacts – including potential health impacts – is an unresolved challenge.

Humboldt is said to be the only county in the state with a telecommunications chapter in its General Plan Update and the Planning Commission reviewed a draft of it at their Aug. 26 meeting. The county wants to ensure uniform access to reliable telecommunications services, including broadband Internet service.

But commissioners had difficulty responding to requests for programs that would monitor electromagnetic radiation levels.

During a public comment session, Arcata resident Jessica Doremus urged commissioners to consider the health impacts of emissions from wireless transmission facilities. She asked that wireless communications services be excluded from a goal statement on universal service access.

Under federal law, wireless emissions can’t be regulated locally but Doremus said protection of health and safety is a local responsibility and wireless transmissions should be distinguished from delivery via cable. “Wireless emissions are not considered because of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) standard and the FCC standard is flawed,” she told commissioners. “Everybody’s afraid of litigation – but you have a responsibility to look at the big picture.”

Beverly Filip of Eureka has also lobbied for more attention to wireless transmissions. “I will have to leave the county if wireless broadband is put in everywhere,” she said, adding that Wi-Fi antennas emit much more radiation than cell towers. “We should be listening to engineers that understand physics and medical people that understand how this affects people.”

That led to conversations between commissioners and local communications specialists on the practicality of monitoring the cumulative impacts of wireless emissions. “I don’t know whether these health issues are real or not, but I think it behooves us to look at this seriously,” said Commissioner Dennis Mayo.

He said monitoring “seems to be a reasonable addition to how we develop this.”

Jan Kraepelin, a communications specialist with the City of Arcata, said it should be dealt with when the Update’s ordinances are drafted. He referred to San Francisco’s ordinance requiring disclosure of radiation outputs of cellular devices. Arcata was poised to adopt a similar ordinance, Kraepelin continued, but the City is waiting for the resolution of a legal challenge to San Francisco’s law.

Kraepelin suggested that the Commission tap the knowledge of Arcata’s staff in the Update’s ordinance phase. But Community Development Services Director Kirk Girard said Update policies drive the content of ordinances. He recommended that emissions be dealt with when the Commission reviews siting standards.

Connie Stewart, the director of the California Center for Rural Policy, is a leading member of a working group that helped write the telecommunications chapter. Stewart has proposed holding a workshop on what other communities are doing about emissions, but she said, “The question is whether this is really a land use question.”

Stewart said site-specific monitoring of wireless facilities is already being done. “This is more about monitoring, community-wide, how much radiation is being put out — and who knows what the source of that is,” she continued.

She highlighted the importance of providing Internet service in communities that can’t be served via cable. “I believe that health and safety is also about lifting people out of poverty,” Stewart said.

Commissioner Bruce Emad told Doremus and Filip that their concerns are valid but they should be lobbied to a higher level of government. “At this level, you’re basically preaching to the choir and this choir has no power,” he said.

Commissioners unanimously agreed on the wording of the goal statement, which specifies that “telecommunications services, including high-speed broadband,” will be available to every resident, business and institution in the county at a level of service and price comparable to urban communities.

Commissioners also agreed to support broadband infrastructure that offers redundancy and minimum speeds comparable to urban areas and to support integration of broadband service in new development.

The hearing was continued to Sept. 9.

Eric and Kristen waited for the marketing executive to show up. “Did she say eight?” Kristen asked, fidgeting with the coffee server.

“Eight-ish, I think she said. She talks so fast,” Eric laughed. “She’s New York all the way, you know?”

“I just hope we are doing the right thing – looking into packaging and branding before the laws have changed seems like putting the cart before the horse,” Kristen said.

“Well, that’s just it,” what do we know?” Eric asked, bewildered. “We’ve got as much marketing experience as my Uncle George who parks his truck in front of Jack’s garage to sell his tomatoes!” Eric laughed at his own example.

“Hey, I like the way his truck is painted,” Kristen said defensively.

“And that’s just it,” Eric continued, “we can have our own special paintings; they’ll just be on little boxes.”

The knock on the door came with a high, singing voice,” Halloo? I’ve arrived!” The voice exuding confidence rang out.

Kristen looked out the window and saw the kind of woman she had only seen on television – “Sex and the City,” Kristen turned and half-whispered to Eric. Opening the door, Kristen said, “Welcome to Humboldt.”

Jackie Wellbaum made the trek from New York to the “outpost,” she said, of “the lost north” as she called it, because she “smelled green.”

“Eric, Kristen! – call me Jackie, and know that I am going to change your world forever.”

Eric and Kristen helped bring into the house what seemed like an endless array of bags, and Wellbaum created a virtual computer station with multiple screens set up on coffee table.

While Wellbaum tinkered, Eric told her his tale.

“I’d like to improve my operation, but have no idea where to start,” he said. “I need to keep my wholesale prices up and look to export, or supplying more product to dispensaries, but we just don’t know where to begin.”

“We only know about what Humboldt people like, you know?” Kristen said. You know,  you put it in a zip-lock bag and that’s the end of it. If we’re going to sell to people in San Francisco, what would they like? We heard you can help with that?”

Wellbaum carefully removed her Hermes scarf from her neck and draped it over her Kelly bag. Her eyes were fully on the couple looking to her for answers. She leaned in closer and in a low whisper, said “Tell me about your ladies. How do they make you feel, how do they make other people feel?”

Eric and Kristen looked at each other, and Eric said, “We’ll, we raise some of Humboldt’s finest right here. It’s like any beer or wine maker – taste comes first, then pleasure or relief – depending on what you need it for.”

“When you say ‘pleasure,” is that the ‘high’ part?” Wellbaum asked. “Don’t people also use the word, ‘euphoric’?”

“I think the best way to know what I’m saying is to try it yourself,” Eric said, pulling a redwood carved box out of a drawer filled with papers, lighters, and an ornate glass pipe. “This is some of our best; it’s called ‘AK 47.” Eric rolled up a fatty, lit the end and passed it to Wellbaum.

Ten minutes passed. The clock ticked louder, the music sounded better, and Wellbaum‘s citified edge slowly left the room.

Wellbaum had made pitches a million times before, but never stoned. In many ways, her thoughts were clearer, and she began with new found inspiration.

“I see you creating a product that’s all your own,” she explained. “I’m seeing a handsome young man, smoking your blend on an African Safari, seeing wild beasts for the first time in his life. His girl is with him, but distant. After smoking your safari blend, this guy can finally find his wild beast and get his game on.”

A collective “Wow” could be heard from both Eric and Kristen as they sat wide-eyed, waiting for the next wave of inspiration.

“For advertising, we’ll start with a video on YouTube demonstrating the angst and alienation of a young cubical culture worker in San Francisco, weighted down by student loans, drifting through the foggy streets of the city, wondering how long it’ll be before he’s begging for change like the guy on the corner twitching for more crack. Suddenly, he pulls out his nifty box of Safari’s, your branded blend, takes a drag, and within minutes his bleak black and white existence slowly begins to turn color.”

Eric and Kristen just stare at this vision of make-up, hair and pumps, and are rendered speechless.

Wellbaum continues, not wanting to miss a beat.

“Within minutes a fresh, pretty young woman comes along on a bike with a puppy in the basket!” You know about the puppy in a basket, right?” Blank stares gazed back at Wellbaum. ““Puppies mean love, my friends. L-o-v-e, LOVE!”  Wellbaum said with the confidence of one who has looked an ad campaign in the eye and conquered it.

“Get back you roar!” Wellbaum roared at her captive audience, lifting one six-inch stiletto heel onto the edge of the coffee table.”

“His roar is in our Safari blend?” Eric asked.

“His, hers anyone who tries your Safari blend can find their own roar!” Wellbaum continued.

Eric and Kristen listened like they had never listened before. Wellbaum had them, at least for now, with dreams of pretty people driving fast cars and chasing other pretty people around, all of them roaring with visions of Humboldt’s own in little painted boxes.

Jackie Wellbaum is a real person, a former advertising and branding executive from New York City. A graphic designer, the new Arcata resident has begun proto-types of a series of “cigarette” boxes designed to get people talking.

10:59 p.m. A man caught trying to get into a car in Valley West must have been the shy type, as he scampered away, abandoning his coathanger technology in mid-pry. It turned out to be the owner’s ex-roommate, who, since he moved out over some unspecified civil clash several weeks back, was “under the assumption” that the car had been given to him.

• Thursday, July 29 9:37 a.m. A residential truck moved in to the 800 block of Sixth Street, with the occupants’ waste disposal procedure consisting of flinging items out the window. For the good of the neighborhood, a nearby resident cleaned up the debris the first morning, but the second day in, she refused to do so.

2:45 p.m. A woman complained about the “FUCK APD” sign Big Al was holding on the corner of Giuntoli Lane and Valley West Boulevard. She had children with her, stated that she had rights and felt assaulted by having to see the bad words.

3:10 p.m. A woman said she asked Big Al why he was so mad at Arcata Police, and he quipped, “Kiss my ass.”

6:34 p.m. A large-bearded man loudly selling bicycle parts on a J Street corner was accused by a neighbor of disturbing the peace.

8:34 p.m. A cocktail-infused man in a black hat spit in the face of a bus passenger at the Transit Center, then left toward the Plaza.

• Friday, July 30 12:13 p.m. When a man checked into a Valley West motel, he didn’t mention that his service dog would be staying with him. He was evicted.

10:40 a.m. A four-year-old in an Alliance Road apartment found some keys and stuck them in an electrical outlet. The shocked tot was hospitalized.

11:52 a.m. A woman started getting calls on her cell phone that were just music playing. The cell carrier advised her to change her number, which she did, but then the calls started up again.

12:53 p.m. A woman said that her son is pawning her antiques, telling the dealers that she’s dead.

1:59 p.m. Police were asked to stand by at the hospital nursery, where Child Welfare Services was to take possession of a newborn baby. CWS was concerned that the parents might “snatch” the infant.

3:12 p.m. The owner of a Diamond Drive rental house said the tenants had changed the locks and wouldn’t let her inside because of a suspected cannabis grow inside.

4:15 p.m. The cigarette butt-spackled parking spaces in front of a Plaza liquor store became a gore-porn theatre of the macabre when a passerby came upon a cracked open, bleeding, softball-sized tumor dangling from the hindquarters of a Jack Russell terrier in a truck. The concerned citizen raised the issue with the truck’s driver, who insisted that the animal didn’t need any medical attention. “It’s just a dog, not a human,” he conveniently reasoned, and drove away.

5 p.m. A short, large woman with brown hair was seen at a Uniontown pay phone with a brown and white dog covered with bleeding sores. Police didn’t find her.

6:36 p.m. A Valley West tenant who had been evicted jammed the locks on the home.

8:07 p.m. Some sort of underdocumented imbroglio on 10th Street involved a dreadlocked man ordering a woman to get inside her house from his ad hoc command post in a neighbor’s yard. The drama may have been the aftermath of a failed relationship, as he was allowed to remove some property of his, and an officer picked up some trash that was left behind.

• Saturday, July 31 3:25 p.m. A man at a cannabis center at 11th and K streets claimed that $1,400 in medicine had been stolen from him by the establishment.

6:49 p.m. Kids playing with fireworks set a field ablaze at 11th and M streets.

• Saturday, August 1 5:42 a.m. A man on Union Street reported a woman bleeding, but said that due to anxiety issues he couldn’t go into any detail. She drove away briefly, then returned, and the man mustered up the will to describe what happened, which was that she had been cooking and accidentally cut her arm with a knife.

7:56 p.m. A man used Hallen Drive as a shooting range, instructing two six-year-olds in the use of a BB gun.

9:23 p.m. A South H Street resident reported that his roommate had shoved him, then thwacked him in the face with some paperwork. Placed on hold, he hung up. Called back, he said the paper-wielder had gone to sleep, making possible a furtive call to the crazy house for more helpful advice on how to deal with the erratic character.

10:48 p.m. As is not uncommon, a drunk got the notion in his pickled brain that one of the beleaguered Plaza street trees required further dismantling. Even though he was sort of dressed like a tree, with brown pants and a green shirt, the man showed no particular fealty to the spindly object of his scorn, and savaged it without remorse. Interrupted in mid-branch rip, the anti-arborist was arrested on a public drunkenness charge.

• Sunday, August 2 1:14 a.m. A man brandished some sort of medieval ball-and-chain contraption on Tavern Row, making an impression, if not the one he intended. He then departed at sufficient speed to elude further inquiry as to his intentions.

8:08 a.m. A young gentleman wearing a versatile hoodie-style garment not-so-secretly secreted a bottle o’ breakfast booze in his brown corduroy pants at a Uniontown supermarket. But seemingly seeing that he’d been seen, he reconsidered, unpantsed the hooch and left it behind before leaving the store. With official interest piqued, the lad was followed to a dank and spider infested but popular remove ’neath the nearby freeway overpass. He was admonished for the attempted shoplifting and three colleagues got public drunkenness citations.

1:16 p.m. Heaven forbid that the driver of a red pickup truck would have to use a parking spot and walk a whole 25 feet to the ATM. Instead, he pulled in behind the cars parked in the closest spots and parked there, blocking their egress, then sociopathically sauntered over to use the ATM. At least one witness stewed about this act of selfish presumption, then took phone in hand and called police with the truck’s plate number. The truck’s registered owner was sent a letter pointing out that his dickish self-indulgence did not go unnoticed.

2:06 p.m. A young teenager was said to have equipped a water gun with some sort of needle on the end. He was briefly spotted with two cohorts on Hallen Drive, then disappeared.

5:49 p.m. The desolate wastes of outer Heindon Road served as an erotic wonderland for one denim-clad man. He was observed allowing gravity to have its way with his trousers along the roadside, neither delighting nor dismaying the large truck-trailer rig being involuntarily familiarized with his reproductive apparatus.

• Monday, August 2 3:23 p.m. Two trucks parked in a private lot on G Street were notified via windshield wiper note that they had to leave. But the drivers solved that little problem by simply removing both editions of the warning note. An officer went by and encountered the insouciant interlopers in mid-dawdle, and delivered the go-away message to more productive effect.

3:29 p.m. A man who had reported his bike stolen on May 27 found it sitting unlocked at Alliance Road and Spear Avenue, and repossessed it.

4:20 p.m. When the guest registered in Room 245 of a low-rent Valley West motel set his backpack and cup outside the door for a minute, the larval slithy toves in 244 didn’t let the opportunity to commit pointless larceny of negligibly valuable objects go by unexploited. On returning to get his stuff, the victim found it gone and notified management. The young culprits were quickly identified (one was just eight years old), and the items returned. But the mom wigged out, going “psycho” (by the manager’s description) and demanding that the kids be hauled off to Juvenile Hall. Instead, the kids were cop-admonished and everyone went back to their rooms.

Eye Business Editor

VALLEY WEST – With glacial speed, Arcata is finally seeing some payments come in from the long-delinquent Days Inn hotel in Valley West.

According to City Finance Director Janet Luzzi, it’s been a two-year process met with both silence and hostility from Days Inn management. She has been working on collecting payment since 2008 on a continually growing sum of both Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and water bills. Visits to Days Inn management to deliver bills have required the attendance of Arcata Police officers.

To date, Luzzi says the money owed Arcata is approximately $150,000 with about $120,000 owed in TOT – taxes collected on room bills as quests check out. Considering Arcata’s annual TOT take is about $900,000, the $120,000 at Days Inn is a sizable lump.

Day’s Inn’s battles with the City haven’t deterred it from innovating. The troubled Valley West motel’s new barbecue restaurant is soon to debut. TMc | Eye

Both Luzzi and City Manager Randy Mendosa point out that the back TOT cash was never Days Inn property, simply room tax collected by the front desk on behalf of the City.

“This is what you owe the people of Arcata,” Mendosa said he’s relayed to Day Inn’s parent company, Penta Hospitality of San Jose.

“A lot of businesses are hurting,” Mendosa conceded. “But they [Penta] have a lot of properties. It’s disappointing. I can’t loan the people’s money. And I’m not running a collection agency.”

Last March, Arcata won a $92,667.99 judgment related to delinquent TOT against Penta and a lien was placed on the hotel. Arcata will see its back taxes to that point, but only when and if the hotel is sold to a second party. In the meantime, utility and TOT charges have been accumulating.

Mendosa has been reluctant to trip the final switch – shutting off water to Days Inn – fearing that the hotel’s closure would mean the elimination of dozens of Arcata jobs and create a blight spot in the heart of Valley West.

However, in June he threatened to do just that – submitting a letter to Penta’s principals, Tarun Patel, Anil Patel (no relation) and Mukesh Mowji, that the City was moving to shut off utilities to Days Inn.

The threat resulted in an immediate lump payment to the City totaling $25,000. Furthermore, according to Luzzi, Arcata negotiated a monthly payment plan of $14,000 to begin slicing away at the TOT and water bills. Penta made both July and August payments of $14,000.

“I am gravely concerned if this arrangement is going to work,” Mendosa said. Should Days Inn miss a payment, the hotel loses water service.

“They’ve never threatened to turn off the water.” Days Inn Manager Mike Miller said. “We made an arrangement with them. Water is not the issue and never has been.”

In April, Days Inn owed $22,776.62 in unpaid water bills.

However, Penta co-ower Tarun Patel is more conciliatory and said that Penta was working to pay Arcata. “We understand that we do owe this debt. The hotel industry has been struggling, but we’re on a plan and looking forward to better times. The City has been very patient with us.”

“I know I put it somewhere,” she said.

Ron walked into the office from the garden, “I’ve pulled all the big leaves off the buds,” he said. With this lack of sunshine, that should help. “What are you looking for?”

“A flyer,” Lily said, still digging. “It’s a flyer I picked up at the Oyster Festival. Humboldt Green Research. It’s a non-profit doing a study on what herb for what ailment and then some, you know? Good stuff.”

“Yeah, you going to be a Guinea pig, Lily?” Ron asked, moving another pile of papers from a chair and sitting down by the computer.

“Well, I was thinking about it. Here it is!” Lily read the postcard aloud to Ron.

“Volunteers needed for Medical Cannabis Research… Humboldt Green Research, see?” she said holding the card up so he could see the big, green logo. “Looks like leaves and a bird, I think.”

“They have a website,” Ron said.

“I’m going on line and see what it’s about,” Lily said.

“Mind if I see what it’s all about?” Ron asked.

“Sure, you want to sign up too?” Lily asked, turning back to the computer.

“If I don’t get arrested in the process,” Ron laughed.

Lily read part of the “home” page, and began reading aloud.

“‘Before scientists can determine the extent of the healing properties of cannabis, we must understand what makes some strains different from others.’ Sounds good so far,” she said. “‘…it is often reported that some strains relieve the tremors associated with Multiple Scleroses while other strains make it worse.’ It says the same is true for anti-anxiety and sleep aid uses.”

“I know when I eat those cookies you make I sleep better than when I smoke it,” Ron said. “Is that what they are talking about?”

“I think so,” Lily replied. “Some of my strains work better with my pain than others, that’s for sure. Wouldn’t it be nice if these people could help figure it out?”

“Go to the ‘Our Methodology’ part,” Ron asked.

“‘Humboldt Green Research is now conducting the largest scientifically credible field experiment ever performed on medical cannabis,’ that’s a tall order,” Lily continued. “‘As a research participant you will be given access to an enormous variety of samples … ‘

“Sign me up!” Ron laughed.

Lily laughed too, but kept reading. “… Performing a chemical analysis on each strain and then cross- referencing the data from the field research might then reveal which cannabinoids have which healing properties.’ Oh, this sounds good,” Lily said. “It goes on to say that methodology should allow them to selectively breed new and improved ‘use-specific’ strains in the future.”

“Wouldn’t that be something, Lily?” Ron asked. “We could grow the kind of strains that would make a difference – no more guessing games.”

“It’s a whole new world out there, Ron.” Lily said with a wink, turning back to the computer to sign up.

For more information on Humboldt Green Research, visit humboldtgreenresearch.org