100% Humboldt
Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.
We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.
We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing Northcoast of California 100%!
Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!
100% Humboldt
#72. John Woolley's Inspiring Journey: From Southern California Waves to Humboldt Community Leadership, Embracing Lifelong Learning and Celebrating Family Legacies
Ever wonder how a Southern California surfer finds himself in Humboldt, weaving through a life filled with family, community, and transformation? Meet John Woolley, my new best friend, whose fascinating journey intertwines personal milestones with cultural shifts. From his high school days spent riding the waves at Torrance and Redondo Beaches--John's tales offer a heartfelt glimpse into the chaos and love of local community. His life story is a vibrant tapestry of the 60s and 70s, filled with enduring friendships and a captivating blend of personal and societal evolution.
John's passion for community development shines as he recounts his transition from studying fisheries to political science, driven by a belief that managing resources is about managing people. John's role in founding Youth Educational Services and an experimental college at Humboldt highlights his commitment to innovative education and community engagement.
We explore the exhilarating joys of lifelong learning through stories of senior sports leagues and the unique challenges faced as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War era draft. His experiences speak to the importance of embracing change and staying active, regardless of age.
Our conversation takes a closer look at John's influential presence in Humboldt's community development, celebrating projects that reshaped the region's economic landscape. From the $17 million revitalization of the Carson Block Building to the grassroots efforts behind the Humboldt Area Foundation, John's impact is undeniable. The discussion wraps up with a nod to the culinary delights of Humboldt, from favorite local eateries to cherished coffee spots, ensuring our listeners leave with a smile and a sense of connection to both the land and its people. Join us for an enlightening hour with John, as we explore the intersection of personal passion and community legacy.
About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond
Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.
We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.
We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!
Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!
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Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast, with my new best friend, john Woolley. Hi, John, hi there, scott, good to see you. It's great to be seen.
Speaker 2:How's your day? Not bad, a beautiful day in the neighborhood man. Yeah, it was great 60 degrees.
Speaker 1:Yeah, perfect outside. I was just driving in, I'm going. Oh good, I just talked to my uncle. He turned 80. They go from Sioux City, iowa, down to Mobile Shores in Alabama, where it's 40 degrees and freezing. Was he a corn farmer too? He delivered propane to farmers for like 40 years, and now they leave three months out of the year and go down there. So tell us the John Woolley story, just the John Woolley arc, and then we'll go circle back.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I was born In 1962, I came up here after being born and living 18 years all around. My folks were great. My folks were great. My dad was being transferred, so we went from San Francisco all the way through Denver and Toledo and back to LA Wow. And then I came up here in 1962 to go to Humboldt.
Speaker 1:Wow, Humboldt State University, not Cal Poly. No, it was Humboldt State College. Oh, that's right.
Speaker 2:Before that it was a teacher's college. Yeah, normal school they called it yeah Right, 62.
Speaker 1:That's a long time ago.
Speaker 2:It is, it is Creeps up on you, but it's happening.
Speaker 1:I figure you for, like you know, 62 or 63.
Speaker 2:I'm 63. I'm also 64.
Speaker 1:Yeah, again, and again.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just turned 65. And you know it's funny how many people even today I talk to that. You know 70s, 80s, they go. I don't know where it went.
Speaker 2:That's true.
Speaker 1:You know and you shake your head, you go. I've raised nine kids here.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And came up in 78.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And now it's 25. Are you kidding me, man?
Speaker 2:And it's almost yeah, coming up again.
Speaker 1:Christmas folks right around the corner.
Speaker 2:Well, you have to start with nine. How many grandchildren we?
Speaker 1:have 11 now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got to start saving now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tell me about it. I'm going broke man. It's killing me, my wife. I got more stuff, I sent more stuff. I go, okay, that's what we do. That's a grandparently duty, I guess. So what did you study at Humboldt?
Speaker 2:Well, I came up to go into fisheries and my dad hitched up here in the 40s. He worked for a company called Engskill which was a fountain supply. So he got to know Joe Carter and the Eli's at Varsity Cafe, Sure. So he knew the area and he said, John, it's a good place to go. So that's why I came up here. But then I was telling Nick that the thing that really captured our attention in the 60s was the Vietnam War era. That it was the draft really had an impact on all college students that were attending, Right on all college students that were attending and made them focus their attention on what that draft meant to them, both as a country but also individually.
Speaker 2:So obviously it was a tumultuous time. I got caught up in it a little bit. I became active in student government and started different things and managed to stay employed, working on that forever, it seems like.
Speaker 1:So you went to Palos Verdes High School? Yeah, I know where that is.
Speaker 2:Oh, you do On the hill yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my father-in-law lived at PCH in Crenshaw.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:So he's just right up the hill in Torrance there Right.
Speaker 2:That's where I lived in Rolling Hills. It's called right Beautiful. I lived in Rolling Hills, it's called right.
Speaker 1:Beautiful.
Speaker 2:On the canyon that went up Hawthorne.
Speaker 1:Gorgeous.
Speaker 2:I think it was yeah.
Speaker 1:Now, if I had to live in LA, that wouldn't be a bad gig.
Speaker 2:It was pretty nice. My mom always found us a good place to live.
Speaker 1:I imagine back in the day the Rolling Hills. They call it the hill right.
Speaker 2:Well, we were not behind the gates. There was the gates and we were. We were on the other side, but it was still— oh, the ghetto part. Yeah, right, but no, we moved there in 61 and opened up Palace Rites High in 62, graduated and came up here. So I was only there for a year at PCH yeah, great place. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, always loved visiting there and going down and a lot of good memories. We've had the occasion to go to the Getty Museum the last couple of times. Oh nice, which did not burn, by the way, which is good news. Good, but yeah, la's fun. I used to really kind of cuss it.
Speaker 2:Now it's like oh, there's stuff to do if you get time to sit in traffic for a minute. Yeah, that's where I learned to surf and I brought my surfboard up with me in 62. Oh nice. Is that right, there weren't many of us. Did you ever meet Doc Ball? No, I never had the opportunity which I had. The legend yeah.
Speaker 1:The man, the myth, the legend.
Speaker 2:So Doc.
Speaker 1:Ball. For those of you who don't know, he surfed Shelter Cove, which is way down there. He was one of theon. At the end he would raise funds for the Gideon's Bibles that were in all the hotels. He was a really hardcore believer and he loved Jesus and what a sweet, sweet guy, and then his son, I guess, was Doc Ball Jr. Oh, up here at Humboldt, yeah, at Arcade, I think Right, and I think he's also retired, so that kind of dates him. But yeah, nice man.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So PV and you surfed like Torrance Beach or Redondo Well, it was Redondo and the beach cities, but we'd go from Malibu all the way down to Dano Point, nice, different places. My folks had a Ford station wagon and we'd plug the boards up and off we go. My next door neighbor was Rick Griffin, who's now passed, but he was the cartoonist for Surfer Magazine. So, he led me astray and all the surfing knots and stuff.
Speaker 1:Sure Boy, that's early surf days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, you're a cool guy after all.
Speaker 2:I'll do it in a pinch anyway.
Speaker 1:So did you end up with a fisheries degree at Hubble?
Speaker 2:No, I gravitated. I got one class taught me is that it was NR2, I think is the class name. It was Natural Resources, lower Division, and the prof was really good. So he said what struck me was you think you're in here to manage the fish or the birds and the bees? What have you? They said no, you're here to manage the people who are using the birds and the bees et cetera. And I went ooh.
Speaker 1:Game changer yeah.
Speaker 2:So that changed. I went from that to education politics. So I graduated in political science, essentially Okay, Because I became active on campus with starting what is now called YES, Youth Educational Services.
Speaker 1:Familiar with it?
Speaker 2:yeah, Yep and I started an experimental college. It was called Was that Cluster.
Speaker 2:Experimental College it was called. Was that Cluster? No, it was. In those days you'd register in the gym by going through long lines and you'd keep track of the chalkboard that was still, and they would erase and say, no, that class doesn't. So you'd always have to be checking your sheet. So I put a cardboard table up in the middle of the line and I had volunteers on both sides and I say do you know how to do anything that you like to tell people about? Yeah, I like to teach them fly tying, sure. And so I set up classes for people to get to know each other, and fly tying became one of the classes as an example. Huh, that was the experimental college. I like that.
Speaker 1:So no credits. No credits Just fun, just for fun, yeah, which is the right answer for education.
Speaker 2:I think so it's a good start, should be fun.
Speaker 1:What are we doing if we're not having fun?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I had a friend that plays pickleball up in Medford. He had a friend that plays traveling baseball kind of our age and he goes. It costs me $10,000 a year and it's not any fun. He goes. What are you doing in it? Or if it's not fun, what are you doing, man and he goes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right. There's a good buddy my age that still plays in the senior circuit and he's 80. It's different rules for him right now, but he's still playing, he's still. It's a different rules for him, right now, but he's still playing. He's still at it. Wow, yeah, baseball or Softball, softball. Yeah, they go to St George, utah, I think it is.
Speaker 1:Big tournament.
Speaker 2:A big. It's a senior tournament for all sports. It's huge.
Speaker 1:It's great, a lot of silver hair folks. Oh yeah, yeah. So we'll go up to the Brit Festival in Oregon and see Jackson Brown or whoever, and Jodi will look around and she goes there's our tribe band, we're all here. Everybody with the silver hair folks are here. Which is kind of funny, it's all true, it's all true. My coach calls it advanced maturity.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know how advanced we are or how mature we are Both are questionable.
Speaker 1:So you started YES becauseES because that has. Is it still there? I believe it is.
Speaker 2:It still has about 300 volunteers a year going through the program.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they did a lot of good stuff for the community, right.
Speaker 2:It was back in those days the concept of town and gown was prevalent. When I first came to Humboldt, there was only about 23, 2,500 students overall, and so it was really an enclave onto itself. Not much community interaction at all.
Speaker 1:Across the highway. That wasn't there yet, right yeah, and it came in. Well, there was a two-lane highway, right yeah?
Speaker 2:Right there with the light and all that Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right there with the light and all that. Right, yeah, so actually we started a youth tutoring, youth a tutorial program, and I talked to the Arcata School District allowing us to use then the Manila School because they had to shut it down for a lack of enrollment. So we opened it up, ran tutorial programs during the afternoon and evening hours, and that was the first year. And then the year after that we expanded it to YES, youth Educational Services, so that we could take in other interest areas of college students besides just education, counseling river rafting, for example. What became a program. So that really just spawned and went crazy after that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting. So my involvement was with a fellow who you probably know I can't remember his name right now, but during the Carter years when I was at Humboldt. He was going to reinstitute the draft or maybe President Reagan instituted that but they were threatening another draft and I did a conscientious objector file, which is really interesting because now I support Humboldt heroes we're all about veterans and who isn't. But the story is I went back and I was sharing this with my father who was a World War II P-51 killer, diller, great guy pilot, and he looked at me and I still could see the hurt in his eyes.
Speaker 1:And his son was a CO and it's because of Jesus, dad and I couldn't really bear to kill anybody and I think that's all valid and actually pretty okay. But the grace of the man knowing that his knucklehead hippie son at 19 was going to have 10 other permeations of maturity. And you know, we're still working on growing up, and so I look at my dad now and remember him in deep grace.
Speaker 1:There you go, you know he used to say I wanted to let the kid grow up, and shouldn't we all let each other grow up a little bit more?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's part of the process at a tender age, that is yeah even at our tender age.
Speaker 1:Thanks, please, let us grow up. Yeah, really, I'm trying to grow up man. It's just difficult.
Speaker 2:And I'm not that tender anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's too much fun to not grow up. That's what I'm going to tell you. So, YES, then you graduated. Did you get a grad degree there?
Speaker 2:No, I got my teaching credential. But then I decided just to experiment. I hitched across country, came back, worked in the mill, went commercial fishing and then I said well, I want to start working in the community. So I wrote some grants up and got them funded with the Higher Education Act of 65 and managed to hire myself to work in community development programs. So I did that for a couple of years, focusing on Manila, and that's where we started the preschool programs which soon became then Head Start. The first Head Start Wonderful.
Speaker 1:So did that spawn Manila, west Haven parent.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, manila became Manila stood alone. And then we included West Haven. And you're right, yeah, manila, west Haven. Parent Council.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Then it grew, then it became North Coast Children's Services.
Speaker 1:Okay, and that was the funding arm for the Humboldt Rec Program, the recreation program, and that was Peter Shepard, yeah, and Greg Devaney.
Speaker 2:Well, we actually started at the Center for Community Development.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then what the center was good at was getting things going, but finding how to get them integrated into the community, yeah, and the community would run off with them, and that's what North Coast Children's Services eventually did. And, pete Shepard, as you're mentioning, yep.
Speaker 1:Hey.
Speaker 2:Pete Yep. He was a good leader for that program.
Speaker 1:What a great guy him and Greg Devaney yeah.
Speaker 2:We had 19 at one point summer programs going.
Speaker 1:They were wonderful. I was part of many of them. Oh good, yeah, I was part of.
Speaker 2:Arcadia, whereabouts which?
Speaker 1:I actually started at Blue Lake as an aide through the CETA program, through Feral Star.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So these are all funded, grant-funded cool things that were happening in the 70s, 80s.
Speaker 2:Yeah, by chance, the center's boss was Tom Parsons and his wife Sarah.
Speaker 1:Legend right.
Speaker 2:Yep, sarah knew Jimmy Carter really well because they both served in Georgia's school board activities. Sarah wrote the book From Southern Wrongs to Civil Rights Wow, she talks about growing from a debutante to an activist in that book and includes in stories about Tom, their relationship and their move out to here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was legendary. How long ago did she pass? I don't know.
Speaker 2:She passed at 100 about gosh. I'm thinking about 10 years ago now and Tom passed a bit after that. Their son, tim, lives in South Lake Tahoe and their daughter lives in Alameda, I think.
Speaker 1:Okay, pam. So was she key in getting funding federal funding because of the connections.
Speaker 2:Well—.
Speaker 1:Or she just found out how you could do it, and then— she was a name known within the Carter administration.
Speaker 2:We knew how to make things happen, so we just used the good graces of what she could say Right and then wrote to some of the key players and they made sure, because that was also the period of the expansion of Redwood National Park, huge, controversial time that allowed us to bring in what we would call change monies and labor dollars, economic development dollars to the area and recreation for all the kids. Well, that was state money. Yeah, the Davis-Grunsky Act was the one that got that going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm going to use my prop here. So imagine this county with how many, 19 programs so rural recreation for kids that live in the sticks for six to eight, 10 weeks a summer, and some of these programs had 15, 20, some of them had 50, 60 kids with nothing to do. All of us ne'er-do-wells, including the staff At times, and we kept Kim too, in Willow Creek and do outings. Then I finally took over Trinidad rec program oh good. Ogloia oh, yes, they paid me five bucks an hour. Right, I mean.
Speaker 2:You were rich, I was making bank.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was rich, you were rich, I was making bank. Yeah, I was rich, and so my experience is kind of funny one. It turns out that Petey didn't have any insurance. There was no liability, so I did want to do one injury. So I had two injuries with kids that were completely not my fault, for the record. But at that point my career was over and I was 20 and a rec major and I'm not going to do this crap.
Speaker 2:But we got through it all. Parents are pretty cool about it. Somebody got a tooth knocked out. What was I? What I found really uplifting was we would put kids from Willow Creek with kids from Eureka at a week-long summer camp together, perfect, and that's how they got to know each other, experience different lifestyles, different things. And so we did that several camps throughout the summer and we ran it. It didn't last, you know. Unfortunately, there's still gems of it, or germs of it, I guess, but not the same.
Speaker 1:Yeah, times change. And yeah, it's too bad, Because that was a really wonderful program and. I was really glad to be part of that. So all that community development, you know, talking to Wesley Chesbrough, I mean he was really instrumental in things like recycling but was, yes, about recycling and things of that nature too.
Speaker 2:I think so. When I was, when I did my gig, I soon left, so it became more of a flowering for different programs. Left, so it became more of a flowering for different programs. One of my good friends, Tom Westlow.
Speaker 1:he was part of LEAP, which was the river rafting experience for kids. Does he have a beard? Huh, does he have a beard? Yes, yeah, he still does he still has the beard, nice beard, tom. Yeah, huh.
Speaker 2:So I can't remember all the programs, but what I do like is the fact that it still attracts people and it's still going here some almost 60 years, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah, good legacy. So where'd you go from there? So you're a Pali Sci major, you're in the community. Did you immediately run for supervisor? No, no.
Speaker 2:No, that was in the mid-70s when I realized that some of the grant programs were going to end and so we got some things going. They stayed in the community. But then I went and worked for the center. Tom hired me as assistant director and I worked from about 73 through 76, starting things and getting them out, and about One of the major ones for me was the senior citizen efforts. I hired Patty Berg and Greg O'Leary. They did the planning and then we got the funding for then the Humboldt Senior Resource Center, RSVP, some other meals programs, and we put them out in the community and they still are going well today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, considered to be one of the better ones in the state, maybe.
Speaker 2:I would say so, but then we're biased.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, hey, that's okay. No, it seems like they really perform.
Speaker 2:I mean, they're out there yeah they're doing great.
Speaker 1:They're a go-to for Medicare questions. They're pretty available and pretty present.
Speaker 2:The other one that stands out for me was an economic community-based economic development effort. Given the change in old-growth, logging no longer really available and mills were going down, we needed options to be developed that could build on the legacy of the work that was here and create other opportunities. So we created the Ag Development Project and several good staffers were the ones that led the day on creating a 15-volume ag development project that gave us the guidance by which the farmer's markets, ag development could be taking place, and so North Coast Growers Association grew from that.
Speaker 2:And so North Coast Growers Association grew from that. And then we had Forest Improvement Training Program, where we realized that people can make other livings in the woods besides just cutting trees. Pre-commercial thinning, trail building, other things like that are also seasonal, so you can still do logging, but you can build in. If you look at a spectrum of time during the whole year, there are other jobs you can do related to what you had as a skill. So we developed that and then we started the first small business development center, and Joan.
Speaker 1:Rainwater Gish, I don't know her.
Speaker 2:Joan was my accountant. I made her into the. She was the one that really carried the ball?
Speaker 1:Is it downtown Eureka or was it based in Eureka? Yeah, it was based in Eureka.
Speaker 2:Well, it was at the Carson Block where we had the headquarters and she ran the business development center there.
Speaker 1:The first SBDC.
Speaker 2:Yep, well, it wasn't really. It wasn't Something else then, yeah, but it developed into that. Well, the SBDC became a flowering of what Redwood Region Economic Development Commission created and by which those loan programs needed guidance from people that could help small business owners get started. Sbdc was the perfect model, so that anyway. So it would take over what we were doing then and go on from there.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's so cool, the things we take for granted, like the farmer's market or the marsh or the YES programs, you know, manila, west Haven Parent Council, they all started somewhere, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know. So it's like oh, farmer's markets, that just didn't happen. One day, you know, these guys have a whole machine right.
Speaker 2:Well, it's really much larger in scope than what we first thought it would be, and we're thankful that it's really successful and the fact that it really represents. When you look at the demographic landscaping of our area with the five microclimates we have, humboldt used to be able to feed itself over time because of those microclimates, and so I think the Ag Development Project helped guide and steer those thoughts so people who wanted to be farmers could use that information and go off on their own and create it. So all we did was become a vehicle by which people made the things work, both in growing and also in markets.
Speaker 1:Yeah, went to the Farmer's Market Saturday. Hadn't been to one in a while in Arcata. It's great man, what a great outing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Just made a couple lapsata. It's great man.
Speaker 1:What a great outing, yeah yeah, just made a couple laps, right, hey, what's up? Oh, look at that. Yeah, it's Jersey Scoops. Yeah, ice cream.
Speaker 2:Hey, it's pretty good yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so there's the egg lady, and then our friend Jim Pauly from Fieldbrook. He sells apples. He's like an Hardcore.
Speaker 2:Oh good.
Speaker 1:A little old for it now, I think he doesn't do it. So how did you then become into the political realm, john?
Speaker 2:Well, let's see. So we had to kill the corp that we started. That was the umbrella over these other things that were happening in the community. It was called Redwood Community Development Council. So when Reagan came into office he did a lot of cutting of funding, and CETA was one of them. So we saw the handwriting. We killed the corporation, got the services to still exist either under different umbrellas or on their own, and then that's where Redwood Community Action Agency came into play, and they're the ones carrying the ball for the community development work at that time and SETA was, and still do to this day.
Speaker 1:Right yeah, so SETA was long after Reagan. I mean it's still going with. Beryl Starr and Rodney and Jose Quesada and all those guys. Right, all those guys, all these guys used to come out to Kim too, the rec program. That's how I met you, in fact.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, you'd been up there a time or two with the kids. I was the director at the Redway camp. What was that called, anyway, the Redway?
Speaker 1:It was a YMCA camp. Is that Ravenwood?
Speaker 2:Maybe that's it yeah.
Speaker 1:Could be. I, yeah, could be, can't remember. There's Camp St Michael's too. That's down by Leggett, though that's Catholic.
Speaker 2:Kim Montgomery. Do you know that name? I?
Speaker 1:do you met Kim Yep? Yep, he's a good name. He's a dude, right Yep.
Speaker 2:Yep, that was. Yeah, those were the beginning of many people's careers that just went on their own. I mean, we're all.
Speaker 1:I had a good seated job. I had my first desk job. It was right over here on Boone and Harrison and my job was to go bring you a 14-year-old to a builder and job shadow for a day. Oh good, I had to sell that thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it was great I still saw Roy Hedin the other night. He was one of my first— he was a contractor. He had a kid on his job site just to see if a kid would like to be a contractor.
Speaker 2:You know that effort is still being thought of and talked about today, but it's in terms of apprenticeships. The more we can do that and offer opportunities that maybe are not the classical high school college. What have you but help sponsor other activities that kids want to do.
Speaker 1:Maybe trades. Yeah, yeah, exactly yeah, the trades guys came and heard them speak. They were great, what a great program.
Speaker 2:Wow, so we're getting to the political realm here. Well, when I had to kill then I worked for Hupa and developed some programs up there for them. Then I jumped to Northern California Indian Development Council and became a planner, a building manager, tribal development. I worked on tribal petitions for Norelmuk Wintu out of Hayfork and Sonomwe, South Fork, Hoopa, right there at Friday Ridge and all that area. I really enjoyed that and then wrote up a bunch of programs for disaster relief, things like that.
Speaker 1:Wow, so you were right downtown on the Carson block.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's where our headquarters were, right.
Speaker 1:Who was the guy that headed it up. I don't know if he's there anymore.
Speaker 2:You're probably thinking well, there's two significant people Bill Risling Bill and Terry Colcha followed him.
Speaker 1:And Terry, I knew Terry.
Speaker 2:But Bill and Terry have now passed.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that.
Speaker 2:And then Greg Geer just retired and he took over what Terry had started and now the building is full up. It's got all sorts of things going on?
Speaker 1:How much money did they put in that to redevelop?
Speaker 2:It was a $17 million project, oh my gosh, it's beautiful. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Just went up to Patrick's place at Lost Coast Communications. Oh good, yeah, you know the spot then, their open house.
Speaker 2:Oh, gorgeous.
Speaker 1:And then Hanson Pereira, fiduciary, is up there.
Speaker 2:It's just like remodeled.
Speaker 1:I mean, actually I think they're owned by Bob from Globe. Yeah, Do you?
Speaker 2:know Terry Sepulhan Mm-hmm. He'd be an interesting sort because he runs North Coast. What was it? True North, yeah, but it does a lot of organizing for families in minority-based communities throughout Humboldt Del Norte and other places as well. It's quite a good story by itself. So he works out of there as well. Okay, yeah, there's such a good story by itself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he works out of there as well. Okay, yeah, there's such a. It was a theater in there at one time. Yeah, my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a boxing ring at one time. Huh, yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And Freshwater had diving. Yeah, at the old park there, uh-huh, they had guys that would come through and tour and do a look at diving Right. What so? Give me some memorable stories. So in your journey and we're still pre-supervisor here what stands out? I mean, did you shake hands with John Wayne or something? What stories kind of catch your attention?
Speaker 2:I think, a story that what I like is. I organized in Manila and fell in love with the community. I mean, here you are. I live right on the bay, just across the highway from the ocean. There's no place to go because it's all natural resource surrounded. So I bought my place and then became active in the community on the services district board. We were unfortunately laid bare from liability insurance programs so I helped start a pool and now it's a statewide pool. That was fun. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you get up and you could see the sun rising over. Oh, I have pictures, yeah, oh, I bet that's amazing, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the park used to be a burned down lumber mill and it was about 11 acres and it became rat infested with car bodies back in the— it was a pretty rough little place, right?
Speaker 1:Oh, it was Terrible.
Speaker 2:Go to Manila for drugs, yeah yeah, it was bad back, way back, and Mary Jo Bobalot was a PTA member. She too was upset with it, but she found the means by which we can get the funding to clean it all up. And then we have people in the community that wanted to take ownership of it, and so, for a dollar, the county turned it over to the services district, so now it's a community park.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful. Did you have any hand in Malal Dunes at the BLM?
Speaker 2:Not directly but indirectly. I was part of a—the county had a master plan for coastal dunes activities and it dealt with off-road vehicles carving up dunes. Malal Dunes was really a great gal. Andrea Pickhart was the driving force in that. Is she still around? Oh yeah?
Speaker 1:Shout out to Andrea. Pardon me, shout out to Andrea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And Carol Vandermeer at Friends of the Dunes was very active with the nature development that they have on their properties. So it changed quite a bit from, let's say, mid-90s to the present day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so my wife Joni is a big hiker.
Speaker 2:You've met Joni a time or two.
Speaker 1:And she drug me out there. Where are we going? I don't want to go for a hike, and so it's out here in Manila. See it right there, arcata Bay. And I looked across the bay and I'm going, I'm up on this giant dune, like from Star Wars or from one of the movies, and I'm down in glamorous dunes and it's just an unbelievable view back at the mountains and the Arcata Bottom and the bay and you go. Why haven't I done this before? Because there's a lot of acres too, right, right, and you could do the hike along the bay and then it goes over the dunes.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Circle back Yep.
Speaker 2:Yep. And you can get down to the wave slope and there's channels out. Yeah passed, unfortunately, but was the leader in keeping us with grant and innovative funding for then creating a wastewater system that moved from a leach field into a facultative pond system, meaning there's three ponds that collect the effluent. And it is Bob Gearhart, the architect, designer operational sometimes of the Arcata Marsh. He created the same kind of program in Manila how about that? And it won the small district award for innovative approaches for wastewater treatment.
Speaker 1:Still functional.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, very much, so Go figure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I like it. So what I put together inferring with what you're telling me yeah, yeah, I like it. So what I put together inferring with what you're telling me, is that there's been a series of creative folks that had vision and had connection enough to pull down the right ideas and match the right funding, and so now we have sewage and manila, I mean, amongst other things.
Speaker 2:Right, farmer's markets. Right the disc golf. Disc golf, there you go, that's markets. Right the disc golf.
Speaker 1:Disc golf there you go, that's right.
Speaker 2:And the mini putt and the putt putt yeah, he came from Riadale, right?
Speaker 1:Yes, he did yeah. I like that mini golf? Yeah, hey, it's our mini golf. I was thinking about some of the other programs and it's just like it pot project to go hike and bird watch and it's like no there wasn't no at one time it was a rat infested dump.
Speaker 2:We used to go down there shotguns and shoot rats.
Speaker 1:You had to do something fun. Yeah, yeah. So I mentioned humboldt state was different in the 60s, was it? Yeah, it wasn't quite berkeley, but it was there some tense moments with, uh, uh, anti-war sentiment exactly I mean, uh, yeah, I mean I was a leader in the anti-war sentiment.
Speaker 2:Exactly I mean, yeah, I mean I was a leader in the anti-war movement at the time when we had a student strike and we too, shut down the campus for a week, but we did teach-ins and media outreach, and so we just we were able to keep the energy focused on doing positive things.
Speaker 1:And it's just so tempting to say, unlike this last round last year.
Speaker 2:Well, every era has different people and different things. So, it's hard to compare.
Speaker 1:It is, yeah, $2 million in damage is no contest. So lest I wax a little bitter and mention that some more, we'll move on with my notes here. Okay, I never do the note thing. I like that. It's my new. I'm not going to do the map anymore, I'm just going to do notes, like like, like I'm reading the news.
Speaker 2:Just take those. Have those every time.
Speaker 1:I should hey they could be your notes and I'll just so. You were supervisor in 96. Well, 96 to 08. Right, is that? Two terms, three, three, wow For second. Or is it the fifth district, third district, third.
Speaker 2:My good friend Julie Fulkerson was the sitting supervisor and she was wanting to do other things. Her mindset and her beliefs and her energy can't be corralled very easily, and so she went off to do what she wants to do and asked me to run. So I ran and I got good endorsements from that and in 96, I ran in the primary and managed to take it outright and then in the other terms I didn't have any opposition. Yeah, so that was me back then. Nice yeah.
Speaker 1:Nice to have to run a big campaign and go nuts Different times, spend money and yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:My wife was an early childhood education guru, I would call her, but she was also a professor at College of the Redwoods, okay, but she also was a musician and she played the cello and is a vocalist for Good Company and other groups as well. So I had the music background, right. I pulled them in and off we went.
Speaker 1:Nice, do they still play?
Speaker 2:Yes, good Company is. Unfortunately, anne Marie passed in 16, but they're good company, is still alive and kicking. They're going to be playing, I know, march 15th at the Bayside Hall that's being created so, and they do periodic places as well, but still going good.
Speaker 1:No, she didn't call it the Bayside Grange.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well is it formerly known as the Grange? There's another story. Have Maggie come talk to you about that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a whole story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, by itself.
Speaker 1:Right, we used to go to church next door at the old Bayside.
Speaker 2:Community Hall. Oh sure, Well, that's where it's going to be. Oh, is it? Okay? Yeah, that's now the place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Retrofitting back to the community, right yeah.
Speaker 2:There is in yesterday's paper a story about it, I think, coming up. Oh really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, periodically. So it was, the Good Templars of America owned it. They were a prohibition group and Pastor Mark wrote them a letter and they said hey, you guys can have it for a dollar a year. Nobody knew who had title. Yeah, lord, and they donated it back With the provision there will be no wine in that communion. No problem, we just do grape juice, whatever.
Speaker 2:Temperance, the oldest temperance, I was told yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it was a wreck and we fixed it up and we're a bunch of hippie kids wherever and it was good it lasted while it did. Then it's changed hands a few times. Yeah, the Grange is still there, of course.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's now Well, as we know the story, the Grange, the state Grange, took back its control legally. They felt they had from all the work that the local folks had put into it, thinking they had ownership.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:So it became a legal issue.
Speaker 1:The whole. Thing.
Speaker 2:And that was replicated in other granges here in Humboldt, for that matter and elsewhere as well A lot of grange halls. Yeah, that's true, and they've become more community-like and less grange-like, in a sense of what grange stood for, because granges I mean where they're located. It's not all ag, you know, it's lots of things.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:But anyway, that's then.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:A lot of pancake breakfast yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I always remember that from the Dow's Prairie Grange where we live, right Fresh water.
Speaker 2:So what are you proud of in terms of your service on the board specifically, Well, when I first got on the board, I went statewide to public hearings about the headwaters activities and making a case that we believe in preserving old growth as best we can, and this is a good example. However, in so doing, the economic vitality of Humboldt gets pushed down because we don't have either the tax base nor the production any longer. So we need support from both the state and federal government. And that's when we were able to capture $23 million and set up the Headwaters Fund Board. And so I worked with my board then and created the basis by which the Humble, the Headwatersaters board, manages it for a variety of purposes, and that was one.
Speaker 2:And then I also served on the North Coast Railroad Authority as an appointee, and so that was challenging and still may be, but it's still. You know, obviously it had its role in place to try and see if we could bring it back, but it really shouldn't be there now. I mean, it's really got a problem with the kind of canyon that the Eel River creates for the kind of track that needs to be maintained. And then let's see, I also what else? Oh, I really loved working on First Five. So what else? Oh, I really loved working on First Five, the zero to five programs paid for by tax dollars on cigarettes and tobacco use.
Speaker 1:Right on.
Speaker 2:And so getting that set up was good.
Speaker 1:So it helps low-income families, health-related family, kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we still need to work on that, but that's another story. Oh, those are all cool. I like that. So Headwaters Fund $23 million.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we still need to work on that, but that's another story. Oh, those are all cool. I like that. So Headwaters Fund $23 million is it designed to be invested in perpetuity and to create funding that's ongoing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the pressures we were getting were from people that wanted to see projects be fully funded at that point in time, so we had to put that aside and say no. We believe in something that could last forever if we can make it happen.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:With both grants and loans, and that we could build off the legacy of what the interest rates were accumulating at that time, which were good. Then we could use those dollars earned to support the grant programs, et cetera. So that's essentially the model that came about. I'm not sure of the upshot today, but I'm sure it's still operating with that same format because we made sure it got chartered that way. So the only way it could be changed is changing the charter.
Speaker 1:So they could blow the $23 million or you could have it for a legacy.
Speaker 2:And then you're reacting, or responding to current conditions as they are 10, 15 years later, instead of looking at something only at one time.
Speaker 1:Were you part of Humboldt Area Foundation in any sort of way? No, no, that was a separate deal, right? I?
Speaker 2:would encourage. I would help people get funding through them and get funds located in there.
Speaker 1:Who started that? Who was at the grassroots of that?
Speaker 2:Oh, that was a gal. Well, she was the head of it, but it was a group of like-minded folks here that had the wherewithal to get it going, and I'm trying to remember Dopkin. No, I can't remember her name right now, but she was the one that got the really structure set up and moved it forward, and so it is what it is today, thanks to those birth roots that were taking place.
Speaker 1:They managed a lot of money right. Oh yeah, a lot of giving.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of good community foundations throughout Northern California that the more they can work together, especially on the margins, that is, population margin areas, the more growth I believe we can see. I believe in community development terms it's the law of like a concentric circle. You take a headquarters where things are going well and you go out so far where people can live and work, that becomes the basis for a concentric circle, okay, and then you can look out and then figure out where the next one is and how they interface is where growth might be able to take place and that's where community economic development, I think has a role to play.
Speaker 1:I like it. Yeah, so I'm thinking also the land trust, the regional, what are they called out in Freshwater?
Speaker 2:North Coast Regional Land Trust. That's a whole other thing right. Yeah, I remember Dave McMurray, I remember him being a leader in that and I just saw him the other day, but anyway, but it's taking that concept of developing conservancies on different lands throughout the area and make it large enough so that under one organization it becomes cost-effective to manage. But there's other land trusts as well, of course Trinidad, gosh darn even the one out on Old Arcata Road. Gosh darn even the one out on Old Arcata Road, camp anyway, sunnybrae, anyway they're smaller ones, but they're good models.
Speaker 1:Trinidad just did a really nice little Topona Point there they built a deck out there secret spot yeah.
Speaker 2:Pretty cool. Yeah, there's strawberry.
Speaker 1:So tell me more about if you were to. Let's do the quiz. It's time, john, it's's do the quiz. It's time, John. It's time for the quiz.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:For many points. Where do you go to eat? If you could go anywhere tonight, here's a gift card Go dock yourself up.
Speaker 2:There's so many good choices. That's the trouble.
Speaker 1:The putt-putt golf in Manila.
Speaker 2:Just kidding. No, I'm a Cafe Waterfront fan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, big time.
Speaker 2:But you know I would also go to 511. I would love the East Indian Food Place. I can't remember its name.
Speaker 1:I don't know, they're all good Tandoori Bites.
Speaker 2:Tandoori Bites, that's the one.
Speaker 1:He's got a pizza joint now too. Yeah, I heard that. Yeah, it's not bad yeah okay. Yeah, that's good. Butter chicken, though. That's really good.
Speaker 2:Rick and Fire. There's another one Rick and Fire. Oh boy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and everybody has to say Larapin on the I've got one for you right here, all right. Second question for all the money you get a day off, you can do anything in Humboldt Starts at 9, ends at 9. What are you going to do for 12 hours and money's not an object? Pretend it's 70 degrees all day.
Speaker 2:Well, what I really love doing is with Tom and John, my buddies, is when we go fishing on the eel or the trinity, and I always love doing that, going for steelhead and stuff.
Speaker 1:Fly fishing.
Speaker 2:Mostly plugs nowadays, but I also have my little putt-putt and I go out in the bay and do a California halibut as well, Wow. So I like fishing and that kind of activity and I need to walk more.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's one thing I want to include.
Speaker 1:So say we all yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's good. No hamstrings involved here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I want to do a lot more walking. Joni has me walking on the regular, all right. Where's the best cup of coffee in town?
Speaker 2:My house.
Speaker 1:Your house Nice.
Speaker 2:No, there's others. My house, your house yeah, it's hard to beat local brews.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:But for me I don't know. They're all good. I prefer, of course, the locally owned coffee shops and stuff and how they go about their business.
Speaker 1:You know who's got good coffee. Now is Dick Taylor Chocolate. Yeah, oh my gosh. Oh yeah, because they've got a Mexican mocha that'll blow your mind. Joni gets it all the time.
Speaker 2:Oh good, when she goes shopping for her giant family.
Speaker 1:she'll go to Costco and then wind up at Dick Taylor for the oh, the espresso Not too shabby.
Speaker 2:Oh good, I've never done that, I'll try that.
Speaker 1:And, of course, they have chocolate, which is really weird, right yeah?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, I like Kenny's chocolates too. Do you know, kenny's?
Speaker 1:I think I've had some at Kenny's yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I've met Kenny?
Speaker 1:Yeah, met Kenny. Yeah, he's a good guy. He used to be Jacques yeah. He is a good guy, yeah, their chocolate's good. Shout out to Kenny. Yeah, cafe Waterfront not too shabby either.
Speaker 2:No, no, it's gone through some changes. I got the award from the chamber for hospitality of the year and it's well-deserved, well-deserved. They have a good menu, lots of good choices. Did you go to?
Speaker 1:the gala the other night, when they were giving out the awards.
Speaker 2:No, oh, I used to go when I. I also worked for Jim Wood and Wesley Chesbrough as field rep, and that's one of our.
Speaker 1:I see that on the resume here. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Field rep Right, and that's what we would do. I love going to those events.
Speaker 1:It's funny Just moments ago I was looking at my wall, at my recognition, because we got recognized for Humboldt Heroes the other day.
Speaker 2:Oh for sure, Well-deserved yeah.
Speaker 1:For for-profit community involvement.
Speaker 2:Ah, perfect.
Speaker 1:That's you baby. State Assemblyman signed it. Yeah, I got that baby framed on the wall. Good for you. Yeah, good, classy, you walk in and you get a plaque from the chamber, from the supes, from the assemblymen, from the state senator. I'm going, man, where's the president here? Or the governor?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that was fun. Yeah, Dale Nort went to there, so yeah, it was a good time.
Speaker 1:Shout out to Eureka Chamber doing a good job. Yep, I think so. Good job, nancy. Yep. So parting shots. I always ask people what do you want to be remembered for by? What are we saying at your celebration in life? What do you think you'd like? What would that be? What would that sound like?
Speaker 2:Well, I think everyone has that. Because I was very active in the community in different roles, different things, is that I hope that I made a positive impression with everyone. I know there's some that I did not because we just disagreed, and that's fine, but at least if they felt that I was able to listen and either not agree but also let them know why I didn't agree, if you wish. So it's being respected for what you did in the community.
Speaker 1:Love it.
Speaker 2:It's the best thing, no matter what it was.
Speaker 1:Great answer. I like that. Listen to and listening, yeah, I love it. Well, hey, parting shots. Any other great stories? No, I mean Sarah Parsons, that's.
Speaker 2:Hattie Berg.
Speaker 1:Yeah, these were legendary folks that made a big difference.
Speaker 2:I was on the Coastal Commission and we were meeting at the Queen Mary, and that means you're in a state room with portholes Right, and so I'm sitting there and Patty calls John, are you going to run or not? And that's because then it was up for who's going to run for the assembly. I said no, patty, you run. So bingo.
Speaker 1:And she did, and she won right. Yeah, big time. Wow Did she serve with just one term?
Speaker 2:No, she was termed out. In other words, she ran for the six years. How?
Speaker 1:about that. Yeah, huh, and working for Wes was that fun.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, wesley is. I have so many good photos and memories of working with him. Yeah, we both had same kind of value sets and he loved getting engaged with folks all up and down. He was really well-liked both in the Senate side as well as in the Assembly.
Speaker 1:Bonnie Neely, did you work with her much?
Speaker 2:Bonnie and I were compadres on the Board of Suits. We often worked together as co-chairs or co-members, because you only could have two on a committee of the board and we often were like the budget or personnel, that type of thing.
Speaker 1:I'm on a roll here, Anna Sparks. Were you guys on the same board? She?
Speaker 2:was she was. I came on when Paul Kirk, who preceded her or succeeded her.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then I got to know Paul but not Anna. I knew Anna because at one point we were in the 5th District and we were, and then she got to know me, et cetera. But I colleague.
Speaker 1:Going back a ways.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, Shannon Dixon's dad down in Ferndale.
Speaker 2:Yeah, stan Dixon, what a nice band. Yeah, he was a great. He and I were compadres as well. Good servant, public servant, right.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep. Who was the guy that died at the Southern on 101 several years ago?
Speaker 2:Oh, Roger Rodoni.
Speaker 1:Rodoni, he's also legendary right oh yeah, he was tremendous.
Speaker 2:He and I would do battle, but we'd go out and have a cocktail together and have a good time. So we knew how to lay aside our differences and be friends at the same time. And Johanna took his place and she's a great gal too when he got killed in that terrible accident.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kind of a memorable guy. Yeah, it's— Jimmy Smith, jimmy Smith, yeah, yeah, another good man A lot of years right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had a good board then, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, appreciate all that you guys do. It was fun. We've had Steve Madrone on. Yeah, steve's colorful. He had his cool shirt on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was active in the forest improvement training projects back in the day, and so he and I worked together on trying to find the funding and supporting those efforts. And, yeah, he's close to the land that way very much, so I think it says a lot.
Speaker 1:We differed here and then we went and had a cocktail and we were still connected. Yeah, you know, Hear that kids. You know, wouldn't that be something if we could still do that? Well, John, thanks for being on the show. Sure, Scott Appreciate it, you know, wouldn't that be something if we could still do that?
Speaker 2:Well, John, thanks for being on the show Sure Scott Appreciate it, appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you so much for your time and appreciate the notes and I want to do a whole new note thing. I think like Saturday Night Live when Colin Jost and Michael Shea do the notes. Anyway, hey, it's Scott Hammond. Thanks for joining us. If you like us show it on the online subscribe share. We're on Access Humble. We're on YouTube. We're going to be on TV.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:And all the podcast platforms and come back next week. We're going to have another guest and I wanted to say thanks again John Woolley.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Fainer. Thanks Scott, Appreciate it.
