Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Welcome to the KMUD News for the evening of Friday, October 23rd.
I'm your news Director April Lewis and I'm glad to be with you for this broadcast.
This episode includes stories on a new arts manufacturer in Willits, rising water and sewer rates in Eureka and and this week's sports report.
But first, some local alerts. This is KMUD News.
Starting off with an advisory from the National Weather Service in Eureka.
There are active frost advisories for Inland Mendocino, Trinity County, Coastal Del Norte and the northern coast of Humboldt County.
All frost advisories will last from 1am on Saturday morning to 9am Subfreezing temperatures as low as 32 degrees are expected in some locations.
Protect your sensitive outdoor plants in time for tomorrow's morning frost.
Next is a missing Persons alert from the Eureka Police Department.
EPD is requesting the community's assistance and in locating Brenda K. Coffer who walked away from her residence at the 1100 block of West Avenue in Eureka at approximately 8:30am this morning.
Brenda is a 76 year old female, 5 foot 5 inches tall, 165 pounds with brown hair in a ponytail and brown eyes.
She was last seen wearing a pink and white striped sweater and gray sweatpants.
If located, please call epd dispatch at 707-441-4044.
And up next our main stories. This is KMUD News.
The reasons why Eureka's water and sewer rates have gone up in a new way to help financially struggling customers with were explored by the City Council. Daniel Mintz reports.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: With water and sewer rates going up, the Eureka City Council is brainstorming ways to assist customers, including a grant program funded through optional bill amount roundups.
The Oct. 20 council meeting included a presentation on how customers and the city can control bill costs.
In 2022, a 5 year 58% water rate increase and 34% sewer rate hike was approved to cover the cost of providing the services.
This fiscal year brings the average monthly residential water and sewer cost to about $160 and another five year rate plan is in the works.
Public Works Director Kelly Allen described various existing city assistances like its Eye on Water Leak alert and Use tracking app. But Council member Leslie Castellano floated a new idea.
She vouched for a Roundup bill paying option to fund a new grant program.
[00:03:17] Speaker D: Basically, people when they're paying their utility bill could round up and then that money from the roundup would create basically a reserve that could be used to kind of offset folks who are having trouble paying their bills. I know some communities have implemented that similar to.
[00:03:35] Speaker E: Right.
[00:03:36] Speaker D: If people shop with a co op, there's a roundup, it goes to nonprofits. So something like that. You know, I think that there are people who, if they had the means, would do that in order to, you know, support their fellow fellow citizens. And that money could be used for grants based on kind of income based or hardship based need.
[00:03:55] Speaker C: Council member Scott Bauer supported Castellano's idea. And in this exchange with Alan, he noted a factor in the rate situation, that the city's service delivery system is out of date.
[00:04:07] Speaker F: Our whole system was set up to deal with some pretty substantial users. Right. Pulp mills.
And I guess my question would be to you is if we got another big user back, would that affect our bills? And that's something that doesn't affect our, our current situation. But would that if we got another.
[00:04:27] Speaker D: I'm just saying to be able to bring them down.
[00:04:29] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:04:29] Speaker D: Yes, because that would be analyzed in the rate study. And that's how we divide up like cost, like we need to be able to maintain this much work.
So you divide that up, everybody gets a dollar. If you have more major users, you know, they use more, it brings that down. So using Pacific Seafood, that they've reduced their usage. Yes, the pulp mills, like if we were to lose Mission Linen, like, yeah, those would be huge losses to the system.
[00:04:55] Speaker F: So that's really our job, is to try and find a big user, you know, to help us. Because, yeah, we have massive amount of infrastructure and I think we forget that, you know, it was a difference built for a different time, different system. And now we're trying to kind of unfortunately tinker around the edges. But I do think things like the Roundup idea, you know, anything we can do to help until we get that big user.
[00:05:20] Speaker C: The scale of rising utility costs was brought up during a public comment period when one speaker said Eureka's utility rates have never been higher than right now.
He described water as a God given resource, which was addressed by council member Mario Fernandez.
[00:05:39] Speaker A: I don't think there's anybody up here who disagrees that water is a natural right, let alone a resource for people to continue to know, live and survive. And our city workers maintain that right and resource by virtue of their work. And so they earn that pay. The casino, the gamble, I think as it was eulogized up there would be a privatization of that resource. And so for us to maintain it when, when other cities are having issues, let alone other states around water, the fact that we're able to get ours in from Ruth Lake and maintain that infrastructure just shows that what we're able and capable of doing and that there's going to be a cost associated with that.
[00:06:18] Speaker C: Fernandez also supports the roundup idea.
Alan's presentation focused on city sponsored programs such as rebates on water efficient toilets and impact fees on new development projects.
Also at the meeting, the council discussed whether and how it should ready itself for opposition to so called surveillance pricing and dynamic pricing.
City Economic Development Manager Swan Asbury said surveillance pricing uses personal information to determine the price an individual consumer is offered based on their predicted willingness to pay.
She added, it starts with data collection, with online companies and stores eyeing where we live, what devices we're using and what our shopping habits are to set prices.
It's only in a discussion phase now and city staff will do research on methods used elsewhere and estimate the cost for doing something similar like an ordinance in Eureka. For KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: A Willits manufacturer is betting that art can become a backbone industry for Mendocino County.
KMUD News spoke with Artifacts founder Anton o' Hanlon about the company's expansion and his hopes for the region.
[00:07:44] Speaker G: Painters have worked on stretched canvas and wood panels for centuries, but in Willits, a company called Artifex is betting on something sturdier.
Founder and CEO Anton o' Hanlon says it all started with one simple question.
[00:07:58] Speaker H: The art materials industry has been dominated by stretched canvases and wood panels for hundreds of years. And so when we first started the company, we looked at artwork from a very specific lens, and that lens was how long will it last? If you ask any collectors, if you yourself have any artwork, think about how long you want that artwork to last. And I've asked this question from thousands of people and the answer is always the same. It's as long as possible, right? You want it to last forever.
So if we're looking at art in that from that perspective, the best and the best thing you can paint on is going to be an aluminum panel because it doesn't warp, bend or crack over time, and it doesn't react to relative humidity. So when we started manufacturing panels, we didn't think of, oh, we're going to maybe make some stretch canvases, maybe make some wood panels, and then also aluminum panels we looked at it is just how long is this thing going to last? And aluminum ended up being the best, best support to paint on. In fact, you can paint with a crayon on aluminum panel. It lasts longer than if you paint with the best oil paints on a stretch canvas.
[00:09:03] Speaker G: That's right A crayon. Artifacts panels are like a sandwich. Two thin sheets of aluminum around either a plastic core or an aluminum honeycomb. O' Hanlon compares the aluminum to the wooden frame behind a stretched canvas on top of it, Artifex mounts to the surface the artist actually paints on like linen, cotton or paper. 22 materials in all.
So how do these panels stack up against canvas in price and in weight?
[00:09:31] Speaker H: So aluminum panels are going to be a little more expensive, but not as expensive as one would think. There's a lot of really high end stretch canvases that are much more expensive than our panels. So I would say like in general for professional artists, we sit somewhere right in the middle, but the benefits are that they're super light. So like a 4 foot by 8 foot panel is 19 pounds.
My wife is like 5 foot 90 pounds, a tiny little person and she lifts up a 4 by 8 foot sheet with one hand.
[00:09:57] Speaker G: O' Hanlon grew up surrounded by paint. His parents founded Natural Pigments and Willets when he was 9. And he says his big idea came from a childhood spent studying how great art survives.
[00:10:09] Speaker H: Traveled all over the world, looked at lots of artwork in the Smithsonian National Gallery. We traveled to 20 plus countries in my childhood to see how these artworks are preserved and what materials are used.
That's when we started going to the back rooms of like the Smithsonian National Gallery where they have restoration and conservation work and a lot of the older artwork, 200, 300 year old artwork, was actually being restored onto aluminum panels because of all the reasons I said earlier,
[00:10:40] Speaker G: artists already wanted these panels. He says no one was making them. So in 2014, the family started artifacts together.
O' Hanlon says his parents set the foundation and he couldn't have done it without them. He later bought out their share as the businesses grew in different directions. But the two family companies still go hand in hand, like paint and the panel underneath it.
[00:11:03] Speaker H: The two companies are operating separately, but we obviously have a very good symbiotic relationship to where their focus is on paints and ground and mediums. And my focus is on the supports that those paints and mediums are put on.
[00:11:18] Speaker G: For most of Artifacts history, it was a one man show.
[00:11:22] Speaker H: I am a Mendocino kid. I grew up here in Wilts, California.
I went to school in Wilts High. And so for the I've owned the company for 12 years. And so for the first 10 years it was just me. I made every panel, shipped every canvas, talked to every customer.
And then over time, it took a long time, but we did start scaling And I hired my first person, then I hired three, and then now we're looking at 11 people in the organization.
We're growing 60% year over year now.
And we just expanded to a 12,000 square foot facility.
[00:11:55] Speaker G: And he's dreaming bigger than his own shop.
[00:11:58] Speaker H: And so the dream and the goal is not just for artifacts to grow, but for the art community and to have a backbone industry in general in Mendocino county, as of course, the timber industry is diminishing and the cannabis industry, unfortunately, is also. Is diminishing as well.
We need something in Mendocino county that can, that can be a backbone industry. And I believe that art artists and art materials can be that.
[00:12:31] Speaker G: Right now, Artifacts cuts and mounts its panels and willets, but buys the aluminum sheets already assembled overseas. That's about to change. O' Hanlon says new machinery should be ordered next month. And by the end of January, Artifex plans to press its own panels right here in Willits. That opens the door to custom sizes, new products, and bigger canvases. Artifex panels already carry two murals at a park in Willits. An 8 by 100 foot mural is coming to Windsor, and the company is even pursuing mural work for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. O' Hanlon says most public murals are painted on walls or plywood, where they eventually crack, warp, or disappear in a remodel.
[00:13:14] Speaker H: So that's kind of the reason why we're moving into a lot of these public arts. Where before we're doing a lot of studio work and small, smaller artworks for artists, now we're looking much bigger. We're looking at these cultural sites, we're looking at big public arts projects where our panels will actually shine even more, because they're protecting not just a single person's investment into an art piece, but actually whole community's investment into an artwork.
[00:13:41] Speaker G: This year, Artifex was named in the US Chamber of Commerce's CO100 list of top small businesses and featured by the California office of the Small Business Advocate for Manufacturing Month. This team is now 11 people strong, and O' Hanlon says he's mindful about who joins it.
[00:13:59] Speaker H: We're always hiring people that want to grow personally, professionally, and financially.
Everything starts whenever a first person comes in.
We always talk about what your goals are and what artifacts goals are and how we can make sure that both of those goals are met together. And so every conversation starts with that, with every, every person in the organization. And then every day we talk about our mission, our vision, and our values.
[00:14:27] Speaker G: And when artifex posts a job, people line up.
[00:14:30] Speaker H: Last time I put out an ad and within three days we had 68 people apply for a.
For one job. We hired two people because we had found two unbelievable people who are interested in art, artists themselves, and really believed in the mission.
[00:14:44] Speaker G: O' Hanlon says growing an industry here takes more than jobs. Willits needs housing for the families he hopes to hire, along with the restaurants and other businesses that make a town feel like home. He's been talking with city planners about it and he sees plenty working in the north coast's favorite.
[00:15:01] Speaker H: There's a lot of people in Humboldt county and Mendocino county who are starting different kinds of businesses.
In fact, Mendocino, Humboldt county have the two highest per capita rates of artists in their communities.
We also have one of the highest entrepreneurs per capita in the whole country.
So there is a lot of opportunity, not even counting how beautiful Humboldt, Mendocino
[00:15:25] Speaker G: county is for any small business owner listening, there's something encouraging here. The kid from Willets High who once made every panel and answered every phone call himself, now has a team, a growing factory and a 10 year goal of 160 employees. Along with an art center in Willits that draws painters from around the world. In a state case study this month, his advice to other owners was simple. Reach out for help and don't give up if the first resource isn't the right one. At the heart of it all is the art.
[00:15:54] Speaker H: The ultimate goal is to protect the artwork. And I believe the artwork that's painted on artifacts panels will last longer than any other artwork in the history of the world.
[00:16:04] Speaker G: And he has an open invitation for listeners here on the North Coast.
[00:16:08] Speaker H: I would love to connect with any artists in Mendocino county or Humboldt county who this message has resonated with. I'd also encourage any city planners, nonprofits, public arts managers, or anybody else in the area that cares about public arts and cares about the art to reach out to us and, and talk to us. We really care about the artwork that's being put out in this county, but in the state.
And so we want to be part of that story and we want to make sure that that artwork that is being put up now is protected. We have murals in Willits, California. We have murals in, excuse me, in Windsor, California.
And we would love to see an artifacts panel protect murals in every city in this county, both in Humboldt and Mendocino County. So if you're a person that's, that's part of that process or is interested in doing something like that. Please reach out to us at Artifacts Biz.
You can message us, email us, call us and I would also encourage you to visit us.
[00:17:09] Speaker G: Artifex is located on East Hill Road in Willits and online at Artifex Artefex Biz. Reporting for KMUD News, I'm Bridget Carstenson.
[00:17:21] Speaker I: Foreign.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: Here's Ray Hamill with this week's KMUD News Sports Report.
[00:17:34] Speaker I: At least a share of this year's Redwood League championship in football will be up for grabs this weekend as league frontrunners Ferndale and McKinleyville get set to meet in a huge showdown on Friday night. Hello and welcome to this week's KMWOOD News Sports Report. I'm Ray Hamel with humboldtsports.com we'll have more on the Wildcats and Panthers in just a moment as we take a look at all of the big local sports stories of the week, including all the latest local high school and college football and a look ahead to this weekend's games. News of three league champions crowned in volleyball, why it was a big week for a local golfer, some soccer news and some cross country updates. But first up, the Ferndale Wildcats will travel to McKinleyville on Friday night as league play resumes in the HDNL this weekend. Both schools are 10 in the Redwood League and tied for top spot in the standings after successfully navigating their league openers two weeks ago. And whichever team wins this weekend will be guaranteed at least a co championship. The Wildcats will be playing for a third straight league title while the Panthers will be playing for their first since 2022. Ferndale has won six straight games between the two schools, including five by shutout outscoring McKinleyville 34212 in that run. Both are coming off mixed results last weekend. The Cats, who are allowing just eight points a game, comfortably took care of business against del Norte, winning 27. 7 and improving to 7 0. The Panthers lost at Saint Bernards 4520 and dropped to 5 2.
Also this weekend, the Fortuna Huskies and Del Norte warriors could be playing for at least a share of this year's Pacific League championship if the other school should lose its game. The Huskies won their fourth straight game last week, beating Hoopa 420 and improving to 6 1. On Friday night, they will make the short trip to Eureka to play the Loggers on the new Albi Stadium Al Turf field. The Loggers posted their second win of the season last weekend, winning at Arcata 226 and improved, improving to 2 and 5. A win over the Huskies would catapult the Loggers right back into the Pacific League championship race, whereas a loss would end any hopes of a title or a place in this year's North Coast Section playoffs. Del Norte, meanwhile, dropped to 34 after last week's loss to Ferndale, but the warriors are 10 in league play and will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they travel to eureka to play Saint Bernards on Saturday afternoon. The Crusaders ended a two game skid with their win over McKinleyville and improved to 52 on the season, but after suffering a league opening loss at Fortuna two weeks ago, the Crusaders need to win on Saturday to keep their league championship hopes alive. Game time on Saturday afternoon is set for 2pm Also this weekend, on Friday night, Arcata travels to Hoopa for a showdown between two schools that have struggled this season.
The Tigers remained winless after last weekend's loss to eureka and dropped to 0 7. They have managed just 20 points all season while being shut out in four of their seven games.
The warriors, who are 1 6, do have a win to their credit, but it came over a month ago at Healdsburg and they have also struggled to put points on the board in recent weeks, scoring just 12 points combined in their five game losing streak.
The South Fork Cubs, meanwhile, are coming off a lopsided loss to Priory last weekend when they fell 68. 6 and dropped to 5. 2. They play at Sweat on Friday.
Some of the Mendocino county teams were also in action last weekend. The Ukiah Wildcats continued their impressive season, improving to8.0 overall and4.0 in league play with a 5930 win at Maria Carrillo. In sports Santa Rosa the Willits Wolverines avenged an earlier loss with a 278 win at Fort Bragg while improving to 4 and 4 and handing a sixth straight loss to the Timberwolves, who dropped to 1 and 6. Willets has now won four of its past five games after opening the season with three straight losses. Potter Valley dropped to Owen Six with a 39. 6 loss to Calistoga while Round Valley dropped to 2 and 4 with a 3430 loss to Tamales. On Friday night, the Wolverines will try to make it three straight wins when they host Stuart Hall, Fort Bragg plays at Upper Lake and Round Valley travels to Calistoga on Saturday. Ukiah plays at Redwood and Potter Valley travels to take on Roseland University Prep in local college football. College of the Redwoods suffered a second loss last weekend, falling 3024 to Bute at the Redwood bowl and dropping to 5. Two in the season and 11 in conference play. The Corsairs, who are ranked number 17 in the state this week, will try to get back to winning ways when they travel to play number five Sierra College on Saturday afternoon. Sierra is 61 and has won six straight games and game time on Saturday is set for 1pm in local high school volleyball. Meanwhile, it was a good week for three HDNL teams who were crowned league champions. The Eureka girls secured a second straight pennant with a straight sets win at Fortuna in their final Pacific League game on Tuesday. The Arcata girls came into the final night of the regular season tied with the Loggers for the league lead, but they fell in straight sets at McKinleyville to end their championship hopes. The Ferndale and Saint Bernards girls were crowned co champions of the Redwood League after both schools won their final league games on Tuesday, with first Ferndale getting the better of Hoopa and Saint Bernards beating South Fork. The NCS playoffs begin next week with the brackets and seeds set to be announced this weekend in local girls golf. It was a big week for McKinleyville senior Ingrid Monaghan, who held her nerve late to secure this year's league championship at Baywood Golf and Country Club on Monday. Monaghan, who led the league standings for much of the fall season, trailed Del Norte's Jaylee Keeling by one stroke going into the final round of league play, but she enjoyed a huge final day with a round of 95 on her way to her first league crown. The Arcata girls took the team championship after a dominating run through league play in local high school soccer. The Saint Bernards girls clinched the Redwood League title with a 40 victory over South Fork late last week, while the Eureka Loggers won the Pacific League championship with a 42 win over Fortuna on Sunday. Saturday, the HDNL teams will close out the regular season next week before the NCS playoffs begin the following week. And rounding out another busy week in local sports, Fortuna's Juan Ornales and Brookings Harbor's Leyla Newman each placed first in the third round of HCL Cross country action at Del Norte on Wednesday.
And that's this week's KMUD News Sports Report. Until next time, I'm Ray hamello with humboldt sports.com.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: There was no name given to the last gray wolf known to roam California in the 20th century, but the one who crossed over the Oregon border in 2011 was named Journey, an apt description for the species successful reintroduction. Ros Brown has more There was no
[00:24:54] Speaker E: name given to the last gray wolf known to roam California in the 20th century. But the one who crossed over the Oregon border in 2011 was nicknamed Journey, an apt description for this species. Successful reintroduction. Gray wolves were eliminated in California by the 1920s due to aggressive predator control programs. Now There are some 55 to 70 wolves across roughly 10 packs. This is National Wolf Awareness Week, which Katie Schneider with Defenders of Wildlife says is a time to educate the public about wolf ecology and their vital role as keystone predators.
[00:25:31] Speaker J: I hope Wolf Awareness Week will give folks the chance to get more curious about what's really going on. Where have we come? Where do we still need to go to really see wolves be recovered in the United States?
[00:25:42] Speaker E: California's gray wolves live primarily in the state's north and northeast regions, with activity areas and pack ranges extending into parts of the southern Sierra Nevada. Alaska has the highest wolf population of any U.S. state, estimated between 7 and 11,000 wolves. Schneider says wolves often are a lightning rod for disagreements about wildlife versus livestock, but most people fear losing them and support maintaining their populations. She believes shared goals are needed between agencies, stakeholders and wildlife advocates.
[00:26:15] Speaker J: Two steps forward, two steps back, I feel like, is where we've been for a couple decades now. And it's hard on the wolves, it's hard on the people, and it's hard on the agencies. And so we need to come together under some shared goals and objectives so we know what recovery does look like.
[00:26:30] Speaker E: 400 years ago, the North American gray wolf population was around 2 million, compared to current estimates of 65,000. They were the first animals to be placed on the U.S. endangered Species Species act list in 1973. Defenders of Wildlife initiated National Wolf Awareness Week in 1996, one year after the historic wolf reintroduction in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park. For California News Service, I'm Roz Brown.
[00:26:59] Speaker B: That's all for our news broadcast.
Thanks for listening. Thanks to our rotation of broadcast engineers, Dennis Marr, Kyle, Katie Phillips, Bianna Federico, Michael McCaskill, Larry Lashley and Javier Rodriguez.
Also thanks to our reporters for this broadcast, Daniel Mintz and Ray Hamel, along with our assistant director, Bridget Karstensen.
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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 in.
