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Local News 09 22 26 · KMUD News

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Foreign.
• 0:06
  Speaker B: Welcome to the KMUD News. I'm your news director, April Lewis, and I'm glad to be with you for this broadcast. This episode includes stories on recent thefts at Daisy's Supply. The Post Mountain community in Trinity county wants to be on grid
• 0:24
  Speaker A: a Humboldt
• 0:25
  Speaker B: woman convicted in the stabbing death of her roommate, an upcoming wildfire meeting in Garberville, and on a donkey rescue in Mendocino. But first, some local alerts and updates. This is KMUD News, Starting off with news from Humboldt County. The 2027 application period is now open for the Humboldt County Agricultural Access Pass program. Agricultural producers are encouraged to apply now for an Agricultural Access Pass before the next emergency strikes. The pass, which must be renewed annually, allows qualifying agricultural producers, commercial cannabis cultivators and commercial livestock operators to gain entrance to evacuation zones or other restricted areas to provide feed, water, veterinary or other care to livestock, egg irrigate crops, fuel emergency generators or provide support to peace officers and emergency personnel. Activities not currently allowed through this program include harvesting or sowing crops, food processing and facility repairs. More information on the Agricultural Pass program can be found@humboldtgov.org under the Office of Emergency Services page in Eureka. From Caltrans District 1A heads up to 101 travelers in Eureka 14th street will be closed 247 between Broadway and Coster street through Monday, September 28th. For additional work by the City of Eureka and PGE. Please expect slowdowns and use an alternate route and up next are main stories. This is KMUD News. After repeated theft, an updated security system at Daisy's Building center in Garberville catches suspects dealing on camera.
• 2:30
  Speaker A: KMUD News reports Early Sunday morning, Cash Garlinghouse, the general manager of Daisy's Building center in Garberville, woke up to a chime on his phone, an alert signaling that the ring cameras he'd recently installed at Daisy's were picking up activity.
• 2:47
  Speaker C: So I was able to hear a chime on some ring security system cameras that I just installed lately because of these break ins that have been occurring. So that was good. I was able to get on the phone with dispatch which got a hold of the Southern Humboldt Sheriff and we were able to get a hold of a community member that was able to go down and kind of see what was going on so that way I could relay that information over to dispatch until they were able to get to the scene.
• 3:18
  Speaker A: This isn't the first time daisies has been hit. Garlinghouse says the ongoing theft is the reason he installed the cameras in the first place.
• 3:26
  Speaker C: This location, you know has run ins quite a bit, you know, in the past. I started, I took over in this location back in 2022 and even when I first started, I mean, every year we've had, we've had issues, but we just haven't been able to identify or catch anybody in the actual.
• 3:42
  Speaker A: He'd installed the cameras just three weeks before this break in. Cash says there was a security system already in place, but the updated technology is what made the difference this time. When asked about Sheriff Taylor's claim that the stolen product had been recovered, Cash confirmed the details.
• 3:59
  Speaker C: Yeah, no, it was really cool. So we, you know, we caught them in the act. So there was about three bottles or three nutrients bottles that we were able to recover, but a total of eight was taken out of the building, so we were able to get those back. And then I got a call from the sheriff yesterday that they had another five bottles that were returned by somebody, residents here in the area. And so I was able to go pick those up. So, yeah, so all the product was
• 4:28
  Speaker A: recovered, the remaining five bottles were returned thanks to some good old fashioned community teamwork.
• 4:34
  Speaker C: Yeah, so what they had said is that somebody came out of their residence, they saw green tarp and they looked underneath of it and there was bottles there. They heard about the story, put the two and two together and then so brought them back to the sheriff was the story I was told.
• 4:49
  Speaker A: Cash also confirmed that Daisies will be pressing charges against the suspects involved in Sunday's theft.
• 4:55
  Speaker C: Yeah, so they, they arrested Rick Hoss and then he rolled on the two other people involved, which was John, John Scosma. And then the other individual, I can't remember his last name, I wrote it down. I don't have it in front of me right now, so I don't want to misspeak, but. So yeah, they have like a BOLO out on those two, which. They're local community members. They're kind of well known for this type of behavior.
• 5:22
  Speaker A: For now, Cash says Daisies will keep upgrading its security though the store is happy with how well this cost effective camera system performed.
• 5:29
  Speaker C: You know, with technology nowadays, I mean, with everything, you know, going right to your phone, you know, there's AI integrations to it. So I mean there's. It'll tell you exactly what vehicles, you know, you can even put facial recognition on there, you know, and this is just things, you know, ring cameras you can just buy at your Home Depot. So I mean, it's pretty cool that it's affordable, you know, for local businesses and, you know, residents that they don't have to spend a fortune on security.
• 5:54
  Speaker A: With the total value of the attempted theft running into the thousands of dollars, this marks a successful recovery for Daisy's Building center and and justice on the way for those involved. Reporting for K MUN News, I'm Bridget Carstensen.
• 6:16
  Speaker B: The Post Mountain community is struggling without reliable power sources, and Trinity county is starting to respond. KMUD news reports. For many in Humboldt and Mendocino county, living off grid is a privilege and and a choice. However, there are parts of rural Northern California where poverty and high fuel costs have turned living off grid into a serious burden. One such community is Post Mountain in Trinity county, which is located around 40 minutes east of Mad river on Highway 36. Post Mountain is unique among communities in the Emerald Triangle due to its hmong population, with 55% of residents reporting Asian ethnicity during the 2020 census. Recently, residents have pleaded for Trinity county to assist in bringing in electrical infrastructure and moving Post Mountain onto the county's electrical grid. Pleas from Post Mountain community members were heard before the Trinity County Board of supervisors back on September 1, with many residents utilizing a translator.
• 7:24
  Speaker D: I will advise you, board director or some of your colleague stay in the gas station for at least two hours. See how long the gas the propane line, how long the gas tanks lined up just to get the power source in force. Post Mountain, most of the line, the people in the gas stations, it was from Postmom. So please, you guys have the power to support what we need research and also I would advise imagine if your power source shut down for weeks. How would you live without a power source? Thank you. I'm begging you, please hear my voice out. We live in the community in Postmount where my family, my whole family relocate to Postmount and we had children. They need milk. The milk can be rotten in days because no power because we only use the generator as our power source. And when the generator is our gas, then our food goes bad. Then we just waste the whole a load of food in the fridge. So I please ask you for your support. I know that there is a lot of fire going up in Post Mountain and it's because we don't have power. We have used alternative powers and that's why it caused power. So I don't want that to happen again. And if we have electricity, maybe we can reduce some of those unnecessary hazards.
• 9:08
  Speaker B: Those pleas from Post Mountain residents were answered at last week's September 15th Trinity Board of Supervisors meeting. With Post Mountain electrification firmly on the agenda, discussion centered on a transformative climate. Communities grant application that would be submitted to the State of California. The state's website for that grant program states the Transformative Climate Communities program empowers the communities most impacted by pollution to choose their own goals, strategies and projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution. End quote. The group Cannabis for Conservation agreed to be the lead signer on the grant application and Director of Development Chris Moore made a presentation at the Trinity Supervisors meeting.
• 9:56
  Speaker E: So this project is building on the existing feasibility study that was completed earlier this year and Candidates for Conservation is moving forward with the grant application. I am recently started with CFC in May and so some of the timeline that we're seeing consolidated on this is a result of. I'm fairly new to the organization. However, my background is in watershed restoration throughout the north coast, working in Trinity, Siskiyou, Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Nevada county and others for the last 20 years. So I'm bringing some experience and want to help support the community out there on this project. So we are looking for the county to join as a co applicant. The purpose of this is to reduce greenhouse gases and help support the electrification and support of the community of Post Mountain.
• 11:02
  Speaker B: Post Mountain community members also spoke at last week's Trinity Board of Supervisors meeting on electrification, with many pleading the county to co sign on the prospective Transformative Climate Communities grant. While sign off from Trinity county is not a requirement of the grant, signage would greatly increase chances that the power infrastructure grant would be approved.
• 11:24
  Speaker D: I know that I have a lot of friends and families live in Post Mountain who are suffering in the last decades, you know, and with the gas price and all that diesel price are going up. They're squeezing everything they could just to survive up there. My name is Sai Vang. I live in postmortem. Back in 2024 we conducted a survey and 80% of the residents respond that the do want to have electricity. Also we survey the community. Roughly about 200 will be immediately connected to the grid if electricity is available.
• 12:10
  Speaker B: What we're asking we don't ask for luxury life. We're asking for the basic infrastructure needs in this community out in the world in the Post Mountain. We liked Trinity county to take these
• 12:25
  Speaker A: considerations to be the third co applicants.
• 12:28
  Speaker B: Trinity County Supervisors voted unanimously to be a co applicant on the State of California grant to help bring electrical infrastructure to the Post Mountain area. However, approval is contingent on a collaborative governance agreement. That grant application is due on September 30th. Reporting for KMUD, I'm April Lewis,
• 12:57
  Speaker F: A
• 12:57
  Speaker B: Humboldt county woman convicted in the 2023 stabbing death of her roommate could end up serving her sentence without ever setting foot in a jail cell. Ryan Hudson has been following the case and says even the people who work in the system say they've never seen anything quite like a Last week retrial
• 13:16
  Speaker G: in the case of the People v. Destiny Ramey was expected to begin before a jury. That's the 2023 Eureka manslaughter case, which ended in mistrial earlier this year. The trial process, still in jury selection, took an unexpected turn following a plea deal that may have been unprecedented for the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office. Destiny Ramey was retried this month on charges connected to the death of her roommate, 27 year old Holland Holly Elbeck, who was fatally stabbed at their shared Eureka home back in August of 2023. Ramey's first trial ended in a hung jury this past March with a split jury outcome of seven acquittal votes and five guilty votes. Her second trial got as far as jury selection and then on September 16, it ended with a plea deal. Ramey pleaded guilty to a new charge, involuntary manslaughter, and agreed to the upper term sentence of four years. Normally that would mean four years in custody, usually reduced by half under California law. But under the terms worked out between the defense and the district attorney's office, Ramey may instead be able to serve that time through the sheriff's work alternative program, commonly known as SWOP. SWOP typically lets people convicted of minor offenses such as DUIs and misdemeanors work off their sentence during the day and go home at night instead of sitting in a cell. It's usually not offered in serious violent felony cases like Ramey's, and it is never offered before sentencing happens. I asked Ramey's defense attorney, Andrea Sullivan, how the plea deal could include a swap alternative prior to sentencing.
• 15:16
  Speaker F: So ordinarily, Ryan, somebody gets sentenced, she hasn't been sentenced yet, and then it's on the defendant to set up their swap. So they never have a guarantee that they're going to get accepted. So what we've tried to work out is that to see she will have done her evaluation, her application before she's sentenced and the sheriff will be able to tell the court whether or not she can do it on swap. They might change their mind. You're only supposed to do but I always thought it was maximum of 180 days. We're talking whole year.
• 15:56
  Speaker G: Sullivan explained that the sheriff's office does not guarantee swap to anyone ahead of a sentencing hearing, explaining that she found this Very unusual as an option presented by the district attorney, because that decision usually comes after sentencing, and it's entirely up to the sheriff. The judge has no authority over the swap program.
• 16:21
  Speaker F: Well, because the judge accepts the plea, but he doesn't have to honor it. That's why it's the split process. So it's not. A judge could accept a plea, and then it's rare, but it does happen. Probation will conduct a report, there's victim impact statements, and he has to decide if he's going to honor the plea agreement or reject it. So there's that aspect to it. I see this setting. I mean, who you should call is the. The sheriff office, the sheriff's work alternative program. And this is going to set a bad precedent. And people are like, well, you know, this lady got to serve two years on swap one day a week. I have kids. Why can't I do that, huh? Why can't I get guaranteed swap? Nobody gets guaranteed swap before their sentence. This is a. An unusual situation.
• 17:16
  Speaker G: That unusual settlement offer was not what the mother of Holland Elbick, the victim killed in 2023, expected. K. Elbick expressed to this reporter after the hearing last week that the DA's office had not thoroughly explained the offer and that she did not understand that Ramey was being offered what amounts to community service in exchange for pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the stabbing death of her daughter. I independently reached out to the SWOP program itself, and a representative told me that serious felony cases rarely come through the program at all, reinforcing just how far outside of the norm this arrangement is. The sheriff's department representative I spoke with emphasized that each applicant is evaluated on a case by case basis. But the deal isn't final. The sheriff's office still has to formally evaluate whether Ramie actually qualifies for swop. The probation department will file a report ahead of sentencing, and the judge required to receive the plea during the hearing still has the authority to reject it once he's seen that report, along with any victim impact statements that may be submitted before the sentencing hearing. If Ramey is ultimately found ineligible for swap, she could withdraw her plea entirely, and the case would go back to square one for jury trial. Or she could still take the plea and serve her time, what amounts to over 700 days in custody, the traditional way in county jail. Sentencing is set for October 30th. And this is where the judge will either approve the plea deal as is, and. And Ramy proceeds to the swap intake process, or the judge may throw out the plea agreement in favor of a jury trial, and Raymie would go back to jury selection for retrial on the original charges. I've reached out to the district attorney's office for more on how a plea offer like this one gets made and whether it signals any broader shift in how serious felony cases are handled locally. So far, no response. For more on this story, visit Redheaded Black Belt For KMUD News, I'm Ryan Hutson.
• 19:53
  Speaker B: The Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council invites the public to this week's Community Wildfire Protection Plan meeting, a key resource for future grant funding and local workforce development, KMWOOD News reports.
• 20:05
  Speaker A: The Southern Humboldt Fire Safe council, formed in 2002 by residents who recognize the potential for community devastation by wildfire, will hold a Community Wildfire Protection Plan meeting this Friday, September 25th from 4 to 6pm at the Redwood Playhouse in Garberville. In an email, Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council Education and Outreach Coordinator Kathy Weber south said the organization would greatly appreciate community participation and laid out what attendees can expect. The workshop will begin with a PowerPoint presentation explaining the community wildfire protection plan and showing the latest data and maps of wildfire hazards and community risks, both for the county as a whole and the southern Humboldt area regionally. This will be followed by an opportunity to give input on subjects including home hardening, defensible space, evacuation preparedness and wildfire planning. We will then spend about an hour discussing our collective concerns, interests and priorities. The hazard and risk maps will be displayed with copies available to take home. Refreshments will be served. Weber says that input matters because many state and federal grants actually require a project be identified in a current Community wildfire protection plan, one no more than 10 years old before funding can be awarded. And in southern Humboldt, that requirement has translated directly into work on the ground. The Garberville Shaded fuel break granted and implemented by cal Fire in 2020, and the 54 mile Mail Ridge fuel break carried out by the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District both trace their funding back to projects identified in the plan. More Recently, a nearly $10 million project beginning this year will reduce roadside fuels from the Edwardsburg Junction all the to Petrolia and include prescribed fire. Every one of these projects has relied on local contractors, meaning the benefits flow in two directions at once. Properties across the region become safer and the work itself sustains local jobs and businesses. The plan also benefits individual landowners directly who can point to it when applying for state and federal forestry grants of their own. Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council member Harry Vaughn underscored the meeting's importance saying the Community Wildfire Protection Plan will shape how the community responds to wildfire and other emergencies, including certs, nests, firewise, volunteer fire departments and funding for local employment. He pointed to tangible results from the last update quote My experience with the last CWPP update meeting is that my input got grant funding for Salmon Creek fuel treatments that are happening now. A reference in the plan developed with community input at South Fork High School last time paid off. This meeting is very important in my experience and opinion. End quote. Anyone who can't make Friday's meeting in person can still weigh in online through an interactive map where residents can flag specific concerns about infrastructure, vegetation or evacuation routes. That map, along with more information on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan process, is available at sohumfiresafe.org Reporting for CAMUD News, I'm Bridget Carstensen.
• 23:31
  Speaker B: A Hopland donkey rescue made famous by a TV show has opened a donkey hospital in Texas an hour from the auction where it buys most of its animals. Roger Coryell talked with the founder, the rescue's veterinarian and one of its Hopland volunteers.
• 23:47
  Speaker H: For most of its five years, Oscar's Place in Hopland bought donkeys at a sale in Bowie, Texas, and and put them on a trailer to California. The trip took about 32 hours and no veterinarian saw them before they got here. Founder Ron King says he didn't know that was a problem until the rescue's veterinarian told him.
• 24:10
  Speaker I: And Kate came to me and said you could be doing better by the donkeys than you're doing. And she explained to me what shipping fever is. And so when you take a sick animal and you put it on a trailer 32 hours, not only does that animal get more sick, more severely sick, it also gets all the healthy animals on that trailer sick.
• 24:28
  Speaker H: The next day, the hospital took in its first 14 donkeys.
• 24:32
  Speaker I: I mean, within an hour, within two hours of being purchased at the auction, they were having their lungs scanned and their blood tested.
• 24:40
  Speaker H: Dr. Kate Schoenhals is the rescue's veterinarian. She says auction pens mix animals from all over.
• 24:48
  Speaker F: Kids going to kindergarten, you know, they just get exposed to all these germs. So I think we add at least half the donkeys come back from that option.
• 24:55
  Speaker B: Flu positive.
• 24:57
  Speaker F: And the flu in donkeys can be pretty harsh and lead to pneumonia pretty dramatically, pretty easily.
• 25:04
  Speaker H: Six of those donkeys got pretty sick. Two were still in intensive care this week. King says Texas is a hospital, not a home.
• 25:13
  Speaker I: We will rescue donkeys once they're completely healthy, we will then Bring them to California where we then emotionally rehabilitate and then rehome them.
• 25:21
  Speaker H: There's one exception so far.
• 25:23
  Speaker I: We have an old man that we just rescued on September 6th named Banks. Old Man Banks. And he is in his final chapter and he has skin and bones and he is 30 years old. We're just going to get him healthy and live his final chapter here.
• 25:35
  Speaker H: King started the rescue in 2021 with Paul Selway, a Los Angeles art dealer. And I asked King who was Oscar.
• 25:46
  Speaker I: My co founder is a gentleman named Phil Selway, and he owned the property where our first facility operates now, which he later donated to Oscar's place. But when we founded it, he had his favorite cat that had died years before and he wanted to name it after him. So I run a donkey rescue named
• 26:05
  Speaker H: after a dead cat back in Hopland. The donkeys that come off those trailers go to the rescues ranch on Highway 175 and to a second site in Potter Valley. Volunteers come four days a week. Enthusiastic volunteers do a lot of the work. Bernadette Byrne is one of them. She goes about once a week.
• 26:26
  Speaker F: I'm kind of like a lightweight volunteer. I try and go once a week and it's just, it's the most. I mean, it's the most joyful place there is because you basically are going around loving on donkey.
• 26:45
  Speaker H: The rescue got famous after the Donkey King TV series began airing in January. Byrne says the volunteers had mixed feelings.
• 26:54
  Speaker F: Say on behalf of the volunteers, we were concerned when Donkey King was aired and everything else. Not that we weren't like, so, you know, supportive and excited, but we just didn't want our little piece of heaven to change.
• 27:11
  Speaker H: She says it hasn't changed the town dramatically. More people come from out of state now, and some of them stay in Hopland for a week. The rescue's income nearly tripled last year to more than seven and a half million dollars, according to its tax return. King says the average gift is $27 a month.
• 27:30
  Speaker I: But one of our slogans is we save donkeys and they save us. Donkeys are very healing creatures to be around.
• 27:36
  Speaker H: For the Mendocino voice and KMUd, I'm Roger Coriel.
• 27:42
  Speaker B: That's all for our news broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our rotation of broadcast engineers, Dennis Maher, Katie Phillips, Bianna Federico, Michael McCaskill, Larry Lashley and Javier Rodriguez. Also thanks to our reporters for this broadcast, Ryan Hudson and Roger Corio. Also thanks to our assistant director, Bridget Carstensen. KMUD news is now on streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can download our stories and newscasts for offline listening. You can also follow us on social mediamudnews, including Facebook and Instagram. Do you have issues important to you that deserve more attention? Are there stories we're missing or that you're curious about? You can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or send an email to newsaima.org Redwood Community Radio, Inc. Is funded by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at PressForward News. Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory of the Sinkion, Wailaki, Wiat, Wilcott and Kato people. We honor ancestors past, present and emerging, and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual and physical connection that these tribes have to the region. I'm April Lewis. Stay tuned.