Happy Thankisgiving and don't forget the dump is closed today!

http://youtu.be/LjKF7aQthcQ

Family Of Eureka Man Shot And Killed By Police Has Hired An Attorney

Thomas McClain, a 22 year old resident of Eureka Ca. was shot and killed by a Eureka Police Officer in his own front yard on September 17th. 2014. He was not accused of or involved in a crime

McClain was hearing impaired and was not wearing his hearing aid when officers approached him and ordered him to raise his hands. He was in possession of an unloaded BB gun which isn't against the law, and officers (seemed to be simultaneously) telling him to raise his hands and also to drop the gun which was in his waistband according to some early reports.  The District Attorney says that his office will not file charges against the officer since the officer did not appear to break any laws.

McClain's family has hired a lawyer to try to find out if there is something the police led investigation missed. The attorney is one of the two hired by the family of  Martin Frederic Cotton II who died in a Humboldt County Jail cell after being severely beaten by Eureka Police Officers and left do die without medical attention. The family won a 4.5 million dollar judgement against the city. 

Juniper Rose of the Times-Standard newspaper has a lot more on this.  

Mr. Green All Stars Benefit For Trinidad Skate Park This Sunday

There will be a concert to benefit the Trinidad Skate Park Alliance this Sunday at Trinidad Town Hall. Mr Green All-Stars, punk/reggae band will play from 8 or 9 (flyer says 8 but website says 9),  to 11:30 pm, admission is $20.00 and the event is all ages. No Alcohol Please.

The band lineup looks like this:

Human Rights of Bad Branis
Hawaiian Lyon as Mr. Green
Norwood Fisher of Fishbone
Rocky George of Suicidal Tendencies
Boss Skank of Black Uhuru
John Stewart of Fishbone
Grant on Drums
Willy Waldman on Trumpet horns

See their facebook page for more

Opportunity Village Eugene Founder To Speak In Eureka On Saturday

In Eugene, Oregon, local faith groups, religious leaders and volunteers have created Opportunity Village. It's a community of small houses for the unsheltered homeless. Each house is no more than 10 feet wide and was built with donated materials. Villagers pay just a dollar a night and there is no cost to taxpayers.

The founder of Opportunity Village in Eugene, Andrew Hebin will be here in Eureka for a talk at the Eureka Women's Club located at 1531 J Street on Saturday morning at 10:30 am.

Hebin will talk about the tiny house project which is being studied for duplication by many other cities. He will discuss how he got the Eugene City Council on board and how the project is able to house people for as little as $3.00 a bed night. The first project has an outside, common kitchen, a central shower and restroom area and other amenities. People wanting a place to say have to sign a contract that says they will abstain from illegal drugs or excessive alcohol use and that they will follow all of the many rules but many are willing to trade this for a safe and secure place to sleep and call home.

Hubin says the idea is to have these all over the place so that there isn't one hub or draw where homeless people congregate. He will be on a speaking tour through Northern California to propose how to start these projects regionally.

The event is open to the public and is free although donations will be greatly appreciated.

http://youtu.be/m32BWvi7ygs

Time To Raise The Minimum Wage In Humbodlt County

So, now that Measure R has been defeated in Eureka, it's time to move forward with John Fullerton's plan. I think it needs tweaking but if a CPA like Fullerton is behind this, we should be able to get the entire county behind it too. This is from his facebook page.

John Fullerton
October 20 at 12:52pm ·

Measure R (the minimum wage increase measure for Eureka) is a job killer and must be defeated. Some people said "you can't just say no, what is your plan" So the following is my plan for an increase that won't cost jobs or cause a serious and sudden disruption to Eureka's economy.

1) My plan would be for the whole county and not discriminate against any one
city.

2) There would be TWO rates. The lower one would be California's mandated
rate of $9 per hour. Our lower rate would be for the following groups:
- Workers under 21. This will help them get their first job in life.
- Tipped employees like waiters & waitresses. They make more from their
tips than they do from their hourly wages.
- People in their first six months on the job. This helps employers during
new employees training period when they're getting up to speed and are
not as productive as they will be later.

3) The higher rate would be for everyone else. To give the local economy
and employers time to adjust & minimize disruptions it would be phased
in as follows;
$ 10 per hour on January 1st, 2015
$ 11 per hour on January 1st, 2016
$ 12 per hour on January 1st, 2017

4) My plan would give employers credit for their cost of providing health
insurance and retirement plans. This will greatly encourage employers to
offer those plans and wouldn't that benefit everybody ?

But first Measure R must be defeated so this new plan can be brought forward.

So now that Measure R has been defeated, what do you need to move your plan forward Mr. Fullerton? 

So How Does Raising The Minimum Wage Locally Really Affect Cities?

From an op ed in the New York Times written by Michael Reich and Ken Jacobs.

In the face of congressional inaction, the debate on raising the minimum wage is moving to the local level. As more cities and counties consider setting their own wage standards, they can learn from the policy experiments already underway.

Since the mid-1980s, states in every region of the country have raised the local minimum wage, often numerous times. Twenty-one states (and Washington, D.C.) currently have wage floors above the federal level ($7.25), and 11 of these raise them every year to account for inflation. Washington State currently has the highest, at $9.32; California’s is set to increase to $10 on July 1, 2016.

More than 120 cities and counties have adopted living wage laws that set pay standards, many of them in the $12 to $15 range.

Find out how this has affected the economies of the cities and regions where the wage has gone up by reading the rest of this here.

No On Measure R People Misleading Eureka Voters

The folks over at Measure R Vote NO facebook page seem to be intentionally misleading the public about what and how the measure will affect the workers of Eureka if it passes.

Measure R is an attempt to raise the minimum wage in Eureka to 12 dollars an hour. The measure would not affect every business. Only businesses with more than 15 employees within the  city limits would required to pay the $12.00 minimum wage if it passes.

They have argued that Measure R raises the wage too much, too fast. It's true that when it was originally conceived, the California minimum wage was at a stagnant $8.00 an hour with no plans for our Republican Governor to sign off on any wage increase. It had only gone up $2.25 an hour in an entire decade. That decade turned into 16 years until we got a Democratic Governor willing to sign off on an increase and it went to $9.00 per hour about 4 months ago. In another 14 months it will go up to $10.00.

The folks at Measure R Vote NO facebook are saying that this increase is taking 3 years to complete which they say is reasonable by their timeline, as if July 1st. 2014 to January 1st. 2016 is 3 years time. They have their facts wrong and not just their facts but their math. A year and a half is not 3 years. Based on this one big lie, and all of the other inconsistent so called facts that the No on R folks seem to be basing their arguments on I say don't believe a word from these people.

Don't let these people that can't even do math allow you to be afraid of raising wages at the bottom instead of the top.

I have copied and pasted Shane Brinton's comments that point out some other falsehoods on the Measure R Vote NO page here:

Shane Brinton It is intellectually dishonest of the No on R campaign to use the plight of caregivers as an argument for keeping the minimum wage down. It is important to understand that state law designates the IHSS Public Authority (Board of Supervisors) as the body responsible for setting IHSS pay in Humboldt County. Attempting to shift responsibility to the Fair Wage Folks is a cynical ploy to mislead working class voters.

The Measure R proponents did not exclude caregivers anywhere in the measure. Their intent is for it to cover all large employers. If Measure R passes, I truly hope the Board of Supervisors will honor the intent of the measure. In any case, Measure R will create upward wage pressure, which will ultimately help IHSS workers and other low wage workers throughout the region. As the old saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats.

Lastly, please note that the California United Homecare Workers (CUHW), which represents all IHSS workers in Humboldt County, has endorsed Measure R. The decision was discussed by IHSS workers at a local membership meeting. There was unanimous agreement among those present. Full disclosure: I am an employee of CUHW, which means I actually work for and interact with IHSS workers on a regular basis.

So if you want to get some straight information about Measure R in Eureka, see Yes on Measure R folks here.http://eurekafairwageact.wordpress.com/