Cannabis Grower Groups Offer Help to “Community in Crisis”

Marijuana leaf

Press release from the Humboldt County Growers Alliance, California Growers Association, and Emerald Grown:

Dear Southern Humboldt Community in Crisis,

Southern Humboldt is only a “community in crisis,” if you chose to look at it that way. We think it is a community that is evolving.

We understand that change is difficult, we heard your feelings and experiences as told at the “Community in Crisis Town Hall,” but we want to remind you that there are opportunities to adapt and even thrive, should there be the willingness and open mindedness to do so. There are resources, free resources, to learn how to move forward should there be the desire to show up, and the willingness to listen and learn.

Many have already started adapting to the new reality. Every day in Humboldt we speak to wildly inspiring locals in and out of the cannabis industry who have made the brave choice to learn how to navigate and strive for success in this new world.  Is it easy? Absolutely not. But did they show up? Absolutely.

The past two months, in Garberville, there have been two free and inclusive meetings to learn about tangible paths forward through the development of Cannabis Agricultural Cooperatives and tourism development.  These were opportunities for the community to “put their fingerprints on” figuring out how to shape the future, but unfortunately at both events, which were widely publicized, many seats remained open.

On the cannabis side of things Humboldt County Growers Alliance, California Growers Association and Emerald Grown are working to provide resources, support networks and tools to help our community thrive in a regulated marketplace, but we can only help if people show up. It is in the absence of cooperation and working together that crisis takes hold. We know this because this is what has been taught to us by…well you, the ‘mom and pops’.

You taught the younger generation that working together to build schools, community centers, hospice and fire departments is what in part made rural Humboldt, and the Emerald Triangle,  so unique and special.

You taught us that we have something very few places in the world have; that we are a people who fundamentally understand the value of working together. We believe it is time to go back to the roots and remember the very lessons you taught, the very example you made, and let us help you by providing tangible solutions and a path forward. For a community that has prided itself in developing collaborative networks and persevering under extreme situations, to not show up when real opportunities to fix “problems” are available, is the real crisis.

So we must ask:  Are you a legacy cannabis farmer who does not want or can not afford to start a business as an elder? Are you a ‘mom and pop’ who feels you are being left out? Is your body tired of long labor in the So-Hum heat?

If you answered yes, there are options that are available to you.
So, here is the good and bad news:

The bad news: If you don’t show up, no one will do it for you, and you are your own worst enemy.

The good news: You are completely capable and uniquely positioned to create the community you have always wanted through the Retire, Remediate, and Relocate program, Cannabis Agricultural Cooperatives, and partnering with younger generations. A community where neighbors work together, protecting the environment is just as important as the bottom line, and building infrastructure and jobs is obtainable.

So, Southern Humboldt “Community in Crisis,” we challenge you to be proactive in your collective future by showing up to meetings that provide tangible solutions. The Humboldt County Growers Alliance and Emerald Grown commits to hosting another co-op development meeting, but here is the kicker, you have to request it.

If we are provided with over 100 signatures on this petition we will share  our resources to provide you another meeting to come learn, for free, potential next steps. Consider this a call to action.

We are committed to showing up again, but only if you are.

Many have already chosen to be proactive and innovative. We want to thank those  who have started developing their legal cannabis businesses, the non-cannabis businesses who are pivoting and adapting, Local and State elected officials who work tirelessly, Local and State staffers who don’t get the good credit they deserve (Director Ford we are looking at you), our non-profits who are struggling with declining budgets yet still working to make Humboldt a healthier place and to everyone who understands and believes in the golden opportunity we have before us.

We salute you.

We also want to thank the inspiring community members, visionaries and leaders who attended the Southern Humboldt Business & Visitors Bureau on September 7th at the Playhouse.

And finally we all should thank, Laura Lasseter-Director Of Operations of the Southern Humboldt Business and Visitors Bureau, whose determination is a guiding light in a community sometimes shroud in its own darkness. Please thank her in person next time you see her.

With love, utmost respect, gratitude and unwavering determination,

Terra Carver HCGA- Executive Director

Natalynne DeLapp HCGA- Operations Director

Hezekiah Allen California Growers Association/Emerald Grown

Casey O’Neill, HappyDay Farms/ California Growers Association/Emerald Grown

Resource links:

Bring Back the Coop Road Show Petition

Humboldt County Growers Alliance

California Growers Association

Emerald Grown

Southern Humboldt Business and Visitors Bureau

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102 Comments
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Dream On
Guest
Dream On
5 years ago

Nothing to be done now. No new permits for anyone for two to three years, The county has spoken. Where are the payroll taxes for trimmers and workers? How come the legal growers aren’t paying payroll taxes.Must be using the mateel bookkeeping method.Good luck with your associations no desire to raise no flag atop a ship of fools 30 years ago 5600 a pound in August 700 a pound now in August it’s done it’s over ………..

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago
Reply to  Dream On

“family owned and operated”

Localtrimmer
Guest
Localtrimmer
5 years ago
Reply to  Dream On

I trim and I pay taxes! You are making a lot of assumptions that are misleading and not true. All the cannabis employment agencies do Human Resources, payroll and taxes or the farm has their own accounta etc. No way am I letting you get away with lying about the 20% I pay from every paycheck or all the people working professionally in Human Resources.

Scooter
Guest
Scooter
5 years ago

“The retire, remediate and relocate” program? You mean get the fuck out, right? This is an admission that legalization in HumCo is a failure. Our rural neighborhoods are empty at night, because the big growers can afford a town house or two, now there is a program to kick mom and pop out? Fuck you. The last thing mom amd pop should do on their way out is set it all on fire.

Anon
Guest
Anon
5 years ago

Right? I was almost on board until they slipped in the buttkiss to Ford. Nasty! Please “Retire, Remediate, and Relocate ” the board of supes and planning dept

Gold
Guest
Gold
5 years ago
Reply to  Anon

How many RRR have been processed by mister Ford and how’s that wait time ? Humboldt inept building and planning department.. RRR defined ( buying someone’s existing sq footage with a agreement with county to retire remediate and relocate that grow while allowing for 4x more sq footage at a more desirable location.)Consolidation to the wealthy.

I left my tolling motor in El Segundo
Guest
I left my tolling motor in El Segundo
5 years ago
Reply to  Gold

Insane in the membrane
Insane in the brain!
Like Louie Armstrong
Play the trumpet, I’ll hit dat bong
And break ya off somethin’ soon
I got ta get my props
Cops
Come and try ta’ snatch my crops
These pigs want to blow my house down
Head underground
To the next town
They get mad when they come to raid my pad
And I’m off in the night deuce Cad
Yes I’m the pirate
Pilot
Of this ship if I get wit’ the ultraviolet dream
Hide from the red light beam
Now do you believe in the unseen
Look
But don’t make ya’ eyes strain
A {edit} like me is goin’ insane
Insane in the membrane
Insane in the brain!

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

They lie, they change the rules, the sheriff’s go to chip legal farms, they slapped that one legal farm with 280000 dollers in fines.they went to chip the guy in rancho that had a state permit the only reason they didnt was because net flix cameras were rolling.this county needs an abatement program for its elected officials, and county personnel.and its law breaking dirty sheriff.

Slappy
Guest
Slappy
5 years ago

Don’t cry little feller, I hear McDonalds is hiring!

Put on a clean t-shirt, adjust your flat-brim, sharpen your crayon and go fill out an application.

“It’s all good”.

RRR
Guest
RRR
5 years ago

Thanks for the glittering generalities. but.That’s your best idea tell everyone to triple R..wow all while placing blame for not showing up.ha.distribution and rec cannabis laws were written by lobbyist for big alcohol. Why not try and explain CONSOLIDATION for all these people. You know it’s coming. You should have ended your letter with “I’ll buy your permit or find you a buyer when you triple R” at least that would be honest

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

Tell everyone your related too, everyone you ever come across, every freind youv ever had its time for people to completley boycott legal cannabis. Retire, relocate, remediate the new dirty government marijuana industry.hey smokers news flash!!! Black market weed is half the cost of taxed out, fee’d out cop weed.

LostCoastEMT
Guest
LostCoastEMT
5 years ago

All legal weed in humboldt is being sold on the black market. Pay the man, and he will look the other way.

Pharmstheproblem
Guest
Pharmstheproblem
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMT

Right, just pay a fee , fine, or what ever they call it ( bribery) and your good
to grow as you please… it a shit show for sure…

vibes cartel
Guest
vibes cartel
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMT

not true. get your facts straight or simply shut the fuck up.

LostCoastEMT
Guest
LostCoastEMT
5 years ago
Reply to  vibes cartel

No track n trace yet. No accountability. Why not?

farce
Guest
farce
5 years ago
Reply to  vibes cartel

This is exactly what is happening. It is true.

Squeeler
Guest
Squeeler
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMT

It’s true. Many Licensed producers are selling it all black market. Why aren’t regulators looking for their taxes. I know one running 10k sq ft deps for 2 years and not paid a dime in excise taxes. They don’t pay employment taxes either.

WOW
Guest
WOW
5 years ago

I know the ordinary response everyone hates is to go negative when someone is trying to be positive, but jesus – this seems super disconnected from reality. Mom & Pops struggling are probably already working other jobs, don’t have the time or financial resources to miss work for a meeting where someone tells them something that “might” help – that they already don’t have time or money for, and also the conflicting message of ‘do it yourself’ but ‘love us for being your shining light in darkness’ is just off-putting. Maybe I need more coffee…

Potmation
Guest
Potmation
5 years ago
Reply to  WOW

Agree.

Weekday seminar in Eureka is going to have empty seats.

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

True

bearjew
Guest
bearjew
5 years ago

don’t piss down my neck and tell me it’s raining… thinking of the convoys driving past 7 acre legal grows to F mom and pop… 🙁

Payoff cops to bust your competition? Sounds too ROBBER BARRON 4 me…

Ocrimony
Guest
Ocrimony
5 years ago

The essence of the message is the three R’s. Everything else was pablum and fluff. The corporate hacks have spoken.

Connie Dobbs
Guest
Connie Dobbs
5 years ago

And ten years from now they’ll be telling you it’s time to die with dignity.

Tailgate
Guest
Tailgate
5 years ago
Reply to  Connie Dobbs

More like two years.

Tailgate
Guest
Tailgate
5 years ago

The Tyranny of Small Decisions.

“It is a situation where a series of small, individually rational decisions can negatively change the context of subsequent choices, even to the point where desired alternatives are irreversibly destroyed.”

Alfred E. Kahn

We could have avoided this outcome, right?

Anon
Guest
Anon
5 years ago

And the patronising first sentence replete with an annoying typo (chose/choose? You choose. ) is grating on my remaining nerve ..

Slim
Guest
Slim
5 years ago

Patronizing and haughty. What a load of bullshit.

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

We choose/ and someday we can say we chose to retire, relocate, and remediate our county supervisors, and hopefully john ford

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

Hopefully in november huffman,woods,and mcguire too

Lynx
Guest
Lynx
5 years ago

Terra, Natalynne, Hezakiah and Casey,
Don’t give up on these idiots. I appreciate what you’re trying to do in SoHum, and the help you’re offering. People are just wary and tend towards the negative. RRR has some good ideas – partnering with younger generations, protecting the (our) environment for sure. Regulation is the reality so we have to get on board eventually anyway. I still support illegal growers as long as they’re environmentally safe. And the fines are ridiculous and just turn people off. You do sound a little patronizing, but I can understand your frustration with the negative attitude. You have to appreciate the (mostly justified) attitude toward corporations and law enforcement. Listen to the feedback but it’s not necessarily representative of folk down here.

Natalynne
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Lynx

Hey Lynx, we’re happy to chat with you in person, get your perspective and identify more ways we can move forward with solutions. Give me a call, 707-599-6670, or [email protected]. Eureka, or SoHum, let’s talk.

I really hope people take us up on our offer to host another “How to Form a Co-Op” meeting. The last one was held in the evening from 6-9pm at the Redwood Playhouse. Leading up to the workshop there were several radio shows and advertisements on KMUD, about 65 people came out. Next time, we’d like to see 165 people.

RecallRexBohn
Guest
RecallRexBohn
5 years ago
Reply to  Natalynne

In order to be in a co-op you have to have a permit. The County is not giving out any more permits. And even if they were, mom & pops can not afford the immense costs of regulation balanced against rapidly falling prices. What planet are you actually living on?

Grow up
Guest
Grow up
5 years ago

Yeah, go ahead and keep shitting on yourselves and blaming others for the smell.
Any farmer that does not want to go legal in this new world of legalization, that is their prerogative, their decision.
BUT, They can’t blame anyone for the consequences that come to them because of that decision.
They have a clear path forward but they don’t want that, they just want to spend their time spinning their wheels and getting nowhere and anonymously shitting on all of the people that are “going legal”.
As they say you can lead a horse to water but you can’t…

G-S H
Guest
G-S H
5 years ago
Reply to  Grow up

for decades people got away with ignoring the law, county codes, and the environment. back then they cried that weed should be legal. all the while they generated mad fucking illegal cash money. now that its legal they still dont want to play by the rules cause ‘it cost too much money’ or its sucking up to the man. boo fucking hoo. ya bunch a spoilt cry babies. sometime you have to play by the rules or risk loosing at all. your choice.

btw mcdonalds wont hire you until you can pass a piss test.

stickandpoke
Guest
stickandpoke
5 years ago
Reply to  G-S H

I think you’re over-simplifying things, a bit here. Calm down…

People aren’t mad that weed is legal, people are mad at the ridiculous regulations and fee’s that are driving out family farms for the sake of bringing in corporations and foreigners buying up the land and driving down costs.

There are ways to regulate marijuana without making it such a hassle and such an expense, but that’s not what big government and corporations want, now is it?

hmm
Guest
hmm
5 years ago
Reply to  Grow up

There is not a clear path forward. There are not enough permits. The cost of going legal can only be afforded by those who had massive illegal operations for years.

G-S H
Guest
G-S H
5 years ago
Reply to  hmm

Or good financing partners.

Anon
Guest
Anon
5 years ago
Reply to  hmm

The path is clear alright!! As mud…

RecallRexBohn
Guest
RecallRexBohn
5 years ago
Reply to  Grow up

There is no clear path forward! I tried – I had a county permit but had to drop it because I ran out of money. Even if you have piles of cash lying around, the path is still not clear – the rules change constantly!

Yogini
Guest
Yogini
5 years ago

Our county “officials” aka “OUR” Board of Supervisors has an agenda to serve all unpermitted farms with abatement notices…dozens were just given last week…it is imperative for community members to attend “their” meeting to speak… the permitting process is set up for applicants to fail…WHY supervisors….time to wake up,other counties have permitting processes that are concise, easy and quick to receive…most farmers do not have $ to spend years trying to obtain a permit and not be allowed to grow…doxens of horror stories of landowners spending thousands of $
and still no hope of getting a permit.. again community members attend the meeting tomorrow and voice your concerns

farce
Guest
farce
5 years ago
Reply to  Yogini

No abatement letters have been posted in 2 weeks now. Your statement that “dozens were given just last week” is not true. I agree with much of your post but when you supply untrue facts it diminishes your impact. Check out the Eureka Times Standard – Classified section under Legal Notices. They have been posted all summer, every week on late Friday night/Saturday morning. No new notices these last 2 Saturdays. Perhaps they have reached their target number for this year? Anyways, carry on and wishing you well….

old timer
Guest
old timer
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

your wrong. posted several in my neighbor hood last wend. put on bulletin board, never knowing if they got to people or not. how can this be a time sensitive legal notice ? this county government is a joke. another example of the million dollar haircuts.
at one site that has no one driving in and out now there is still a notice on the gate, undelivered. guess they’re going to miss the deadline.
and yes this letter/article is totally patronizing. do this, then do that, and maybe we will give you another chance. if you prove your interested enough in what we have decided is the solution to your problem we may schedule another meeting to let you know what you should do. condescending. the county government has totally messed up the permit process.

guest
Guest
guest
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

County is not publishing all of the abate notices. Check your gate or a post or a bulletin board near you.

local observer
Guest
local observer
5 years ago
Reply to  guest

I wonder why that section of the newspaper is called “Legal Notices”?

Scooter
Guest
Scooter
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

The county has ceased posting the notices on the TS. There were many many in the last two weeks in Whitethorn and Ettersburg. I think all of the complaints about “outing” growers is what did it. Now we do not know how many or where they were issued, the size of the grow, or what was abated. Inquiring minds want to know.

future land auction bidder
Guest
future land auction bidder
5 years ago
Reply to  Scooter

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III and company are probably making a list of properties to raid in the future.

Redwood stump
Guest
Redwood stump
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

The abatement letters weren’t posted in the newspaper but they were posted.

Redwood stump
Guest
Redwood stump
5 years ago
Reply to  Redwood stump

It’s Now a community of non-locals. People that have only been here a couple years truly fucking sad.

THC
Guest
THC
5 years ago

It doesn’t matter, it is too late. Even if they drop all the regulations and let everybody in Humboldt County grow all the pot they wanted with no legal ramifications the market is just too saturated, there’s too many people in other states and other parts of this state that are growing too much. The price will never recover. If anybody is serious about weed tourism, you’re going to have to do something about the transit population around here. Tourist are already avoiding the area because of the drug use and homeless on the streets, not to mention all the local Redwood Parks being full of garbage and feces.

guest
Guest
guest
5 years ago
Reply to  THC

“come to humboldt county – we got less poop than other places, for now”

the bay area has a severe public poop problem. sf just lost a major convention due to concerns over homeless people poop and drug use. made international news.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/18/san-francisco-poop-problem-inequality-homelessness

pablum
Guest
pablum
5 years ago

mushy mealy mouthed crap. tried the triple r route, starting when terra worked at manhard. lets just say it did not work out and i wish i had never signed up for any of it. dont waste your time or the last of your money on this shit.

RecallRexBohn
Guest
RecallRexBohn
5 years ago
Reply to  pablum

I also tried “partnering with the younger generation” – those carpetbaggers destroyed my property and didn’t pay me – they had to spend my money on new trucks and houses in town I guess.

farce
Guest
farce
5 years ago

Hezekiah and his band of useful idiots sucked right up to this corporate “legalization” model that certainly would result in just what is now happening. This crap California Growers Association did not even have balls enough to call out the proposition for it’s obvious corporate tilt and then later acted shocked that 1) all decisions were being made by a state-appointed committee that was (No!) loaded with big-money lobbyists and then that 2) that committee would discard the 5 year suggestion to keep a cap on mega- farms. Hezekiah has been either 1) a bumbling fool with wonderfully positive yet stupid talk or 2) an ill-suited co-conspirer who helped this corporate-front association delude people into voting for the crap “legalization” while he was allowed meaningless cosmetic adjustments to pretend he did not sell out every mom n pop in his county and his hometown. C’mon people- just because people talk w/”positive vibes” and use kindly-sounding sweet talk that doesn’t mean they are helping you out!! In fact- it’s usually the opposite. Congratulations, Hezekiah! I hope that advisor position in that big corporate growing mega-conglomerate is still open for you! You did a great job of providing cover for them and neutralizing opposition with your bullshit stories…But some of us saw right through you from the beginning. Not taking a stand against the proposition that would destroy your neighbors? Weak, lame and traitorous- go home to Sacramento where your kind thrive…

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

Yeah run down and give all your money to the county to be. In good standing!!!! Lol . what a joke. You people supporting this are a joke to people who have been in the game for 20 plus years and raised in it before that. Your the biggest traitors,scabs, and sellouts in labor line crossing seen in nor ca.youre an abomination

Big Bang
Guest
5 years ago

1. Name one “medicine” for which no doctor can prescribe a specific dosage…
2. Name one “medicine” that can be labeled “recreational”…
3. Name one “medicine” you burn and inhale…
It’s weed. Pot. Ganja. Dope. Dank. Chronic. Kind. Bud.
Now we have “medibles”, whatever the fuck that means. Weed is not “legal”, If you think so, try driving it out of state. When you get popped, you could very well be looking at a decade of being raped if you drop the soap. Grow what you want to ingest, smoke, rub on your sore elbow, whatever, but quit acting like “cannabis” is anything but a fucking mind altering substance! Oh the stoned and stupid insanity and water/earth/social rape that grweed has caused is the real tragedy here.
If you want to get high, than get high! Who fucking cares? Just stop trying to convince the world that you and your fucking weed is somehow going to save the world. If weed is medicine, than a fucking 6-pack of Lagunitas IPA is medicine.

weedageddon
Guest
weedageddon
5 years ago
Reply to  Big Bang

Lagunitas IPA is a great brew.

sticks36
Guest
sticks36
5 years ago
Reply to  weedageddon

Althought it’ certainly been proven that THC and CBD have medicinal properties, I know alot of people that use the “medical” excuse, when in reality, they’re just smoking to get high. I certainly know that when I got my medical card, it was so that I could use marijuana recreationally without worrying about jail-time and fines and probation, etc etc.

And yes, beer is certainly medicinal. 2-3 or a couple glasses of wine can cure anxiety and panic attacks faster than any prescription medication. It’s not a long-term solution, but it’s very effective for short-term immediate relief.

I prefer Lagunita’s Lil Sumpin’, but to each their own.

weedageddon
Guest
weedageddon
5 years ago
Reply to  sticks36

I would guess that 90% of the 215 holders got a card so that they could get high and posses legal or illegal weed without getting hassled or arrested by the man.

Tavistock
Guest
Tavistock
5 years ago
Reply to  weedageddon

If Permission can be granted
Permission can be taken away.

Tavistock
Guest
Tavistock
5 years ago
Reply to  Big Bang

No offense, but your perspective is merely a reflection of your individual paradigm. You speak with the belief that allopathic medicine has the only benefits of bringing our mind, body and spirit back to homeostasis. Plants have been used since day one to feed, and nuture our ability to overcome the toxic disruptions to our internal and external environments. We’ve been brainwashed to believe the state or the corporations have our best interests at heart.
Break your conditioning and realize that there’s no difference in people who wreak destruction on our lives, whether they wear a suit and tie or a pair of overalls.
There is a war for our mind. Stop the slave mentality. Wake up and see how we are all being played in this. http://www.actualactivists.com

binbearda4
Guest
binbearda4
5 years ago

you can’t bribe a life style,you kids need to go to room, start over and wait till your Father gets home.Who do you think you are? If you are a product of us? We failed miserably and are so sorry we cast you out in to the world beyond.
Now go placidly amidst the noise,waste and confusion of yourselves. Don’t give up,just get it right. All of you so called “Legal” cats. Are the new age Hyram Walkers & Jim Beams of the cannabis world. They were straight up boot leggers. But, they were the elite of the boot leggers, just like you kids. Now, don’t fuck it up. Do not ever forget how many black market,(illegal) pounds you ALL had to sling for gas money and motel rooms when they first got going on the road to “Legal”. None of these cowboys got to be the kind of guys they are by being the kind of guys they are.Plain and simple. DO NOT forget where you came from.

Community of Change
Guest
Community of Change
5 years ago

I never did like the “Community in Crisis” theme that Darryl Cherney created. I do see us as evolving and if we’re not willing to evolve too then we’re stuck in an outdated mode. The SHBVB seminar a week or so ago began with a lot of examples of how things are evolving in our community in a positive way, and it’s not all about cannabis. It’s mostly about our next best thing for our economy .. tourism. A few examples .. Briceland Winery has won more awards and is now open on weekends for tasting. There are now two, TWO!, new restaurants in the Cove. After years of hard work the town bathroom group has now achieved the installation of a public bathroom. There is now a glamping business and more AirBand Bs in the area. And in the cannabis world there are now farm tours and at least one dispensary. Have you seen the SHBVB website? It’s magnificent, and will certainly draw more visitors. We’ve just got to get used to change. No longer can people buy thousands of acres of property, two houses in town, an oceanside cabana in Baja, and a two month vacation in Hawaii. It’s time to tighten our belts and change how we live. The bubble has burst, so adapt or perish.

warrens buffet
Guest
warrens buffet
5 years ago

Amen!

Concerned Business Owner and Resident
Guest
Concerned Business Owner and Resident
5 years ago

Clear the vagrants off of main street and nail the meth dealers.

Tourism requires a total clean up of the towns, especially the hotels and a serious PR effort. Including a massive online PR clean up of 10 years or more of bad reviews for Garberville/So Hum, etc.

Local Skeptic Thru Observation
Guest
Local Skeptic Thru Observation
5 years ago

How utterly disgusting.

Apparently our kids listened, but never understood.

Congrats! You’ve contributed to the destruction of the last good thing left in the world.

Had enough
Guest
Had enough
5 years ago

The author seems quite tone deaf. Missed your mark by a long shot.
Everyone I know who signed up is having a miserable time.
Tourism is Sohum? Maybe Ferndale and Arcata but I would rather go to Sonoma or Napa. I’m pretty sure they will have some good smoke down there and something in short supply around here which is friendly customer service.
Who wants to visit disheveled, failing towns ridden with hard drugs and growing desperation?

Community of Change
Guest
Community of Change
5 years ago
Reply to  Had enough

The campgrounds are full all summer along the Avenue of the Giants. The new restaurants are doing well in the Cove. We have a new adventure tour company taking folks hiking along the Lost Coast. If you can’t see a tourist magnet here then you’ve fallen prey to the misconception that we’re a failure. We know how to adapt, how to live with less. We grumble about permits and costs, yes. But there is so much more to us than you suggest from “up north.”

Had enough
Guest
Had enough
5 years ago

funny thing is that the two biggest tourist attractions in Humboldt don’t want anything to do with Cannabis.
Trinidad and Ferndale. I actually have Southern Humboldt roots going back 25 years and have put my life work into a property that was never spoiled by cannabis production.
Why should we pay the price for a bunch of bad apples?
And I love weed.

Anon
Guest
Anon
5 years ago

..”The new restaurants are doing well in the Cove. ..”

Define doing well. Do u mean short-term up and running selling food/drinks? That’s superficial .

If doing well means bleeding red ink and burning through valuable cold hard cash, then I’d wager you’d be spot on.

There are few businesses as difficult to succeed in – especially in California – as the restaurant/food service industry.

Google it.

The **average ** profit margin in a restaurant in California is a pisly 7%. I know there are “successful” eateries in So Hum operating on even less profit . And even at 7% profit that means you have to sell a whopping $300,000 worth of food/booze for your establishment to show a 20k profit. The most successful restaurants that are able to push profits above 10% are those that franchise or wholesale their products. Seriously, the profit margins in a restaurant in Cali are so small (our employee costs are what kill many restaurants- not to mention delivery fees which will be triple on any eatery in the Cove-) that if a busser drops a tray of dishes it eats up any profit realized that day in one moment.

There is a reason so many restaurants fail in 1st year and so many more within 5.

The final shoe hasn’t dropped on just how funky it might get in sohum.

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago

Side note to all greenhouse owners not growing cannabis, you can get the structure permitted for $150.

farce
Guest
farce
5 years ago
Reply to  Perspective

…and then fill it with weed. At $5 a pound it’s still worth more than lettuce. Undercut the permitted farms and swamp them under…where they deserve to be! There may be no money left but at least we can take down the greedgrowers and the megagrowers who destroyed what we had here. Accelerate their absorption into the BigAg corporate death machine which Hezekiah will then lobby for….with positive, happy words.

Donnie
Guest
Donnie
5 years ago
Reply to  farce

That will work well once TnT gets rolling. Go to prison for selling $5 pounds. Gloves are off kids, legals v illegals.

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

Farce likin your attitude. Permit farms you’re day is coming. Your going down just in a different way..

Had enough
Guest
Had enough
5 years ago

Just over two years back. One of our counties most well known officials who sat on the governors Blue Ribbon committee on recreational cannabis.
Told me that their endgame is 200 farms for the County. Easier to regulate with a bit of social engineering thrown in to clean up the riff raff out of the hills and creeks. I hope you all make it in this new world but look at Oregon and Colorado after the initial bump. It’s not what people thought it would be, even the players with outside investors are dropping like flies in those markets.
Forbes has a article out a few months back I think it was titled: Cannabis cultivation A Race To The Bottom or something like that. Interesting read it said most cultivation will end up in Columbia and Canada in the near future

Elric of Melniboné
Guest
Elric of Melniboné
5 years ago
Reply to  Had enough

Right here^^^

guest
Guest
guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Had enough

Jamaica. They have been to the UN arguing for the right to export medical marijuana.

Apples and Oranges
Guest
Apples and Oranges
5 years ago

I just have to say that there’s a comparison going on here, and a rather condescending shaming, that SoHum showed up for the ‘Community in Crisis’ meeting, but not the ‘solutions-oriented’ Talk Tourism event. That’s not fair. The Community in Crisis event was schedules for 2-3 hours in the evening and was very, very well promoted in the local newspapers with letters to the editor and articles as well as posters all around town and announcements on the radio. There was a clear purpose – to let the policymakers understand how their Abatement program and complicated county permitting process was impacting our community. Sorry not every conversation can be sugarcoated and sometimes you need to show up in force to send a clear message to county decisionmakers.

On the other hand, The Talk Tourism event had no announcement in the newspaper, the print on the flyer was so small you couldn’t read it, and it was scheduled from 11-4pm with no set agenda or schedule. It just wasn’t sold as well. Not many people can spend their entire day at an event just because there’s a subtle (in tiny print) hint that Talking Tourism is a solution to our economic upheaval. I am very supportive and involved with the emerging legal cannabis industry and I know it is a vital part of this community’s economy and future, I supported and attended both of these events. They were both successes in their own way. There’s no need or point in insinuating that SoHummer’s don’t care about solutions because there weren’t as many people at one or the other.

Disrespectful much?
Guest
Disrespectful much?
5 years ago

If you really care about the community why arent you grandfathering in folks who’ve been here 30+ years who do small clean gardens? The state has pics camp took since the 80’s, pretty easy to see changes since then.
Make the rules stay so that you would have to prove residency for at least 6 months to get a permit?
Find out who is getting paid off to not bust the huge chemical poison ridden human trafficking full of guns Bulgarian grows that are now in every watershed&stop them?
Make sure those in permit process are actually following the rules, which many i see are not? The county spent 200,000 of our tax money for some satellite monitoring program thats obviously not working. Our “permitted” neighbor has his greenhouse lights on all night when its supposed to be covered. Its pretty easy to see at night from multiple roads but no ones penalizing him, wheres the fines for breaking permit rules?
The state and the county did not get good systems in place and they want us to pay for it while they figure it out. For example, could you imagine a construction project regulated in the same way? Theyd tell you to put the electrical outlets 5 feet apart then 3 weekz later it changes to 6 feet and you have to pay to tear it out and re-do it or youre not legal.
Or being a farmer and getting taxed on a crop youre not even growing? Thats happening with pot, if you have your permit but decided to take a year off you still have to pay taxes on the non existent crop to the tune of 6-10,000.

Why werent/arent there permits for under 5000 square feet available? Its ridiculous, i know at least 10 folks who had to increase their garden size to get a permit. Yes you read that right. If you go to get a permit for a 2000 square foot garden, theyll tell you they cant as it has to be bigger. What happened to the cottage industry part of it? Now small mom and pops are getting abatement notices for gardens they tried to permit but couldnt because theyre TOO SMALL. And no legal growing allowed on pieces under 5 acres. Classist much?
Why are the permits so expensive anyway? Telling farmers they need at least one years living expenses available while they go thru the process is BS, who can afford that?

So very very sad to hear these groups just sounding like a mouthpiece for the county/state BS. I know the one group to stay clear of is with a woman named natalyn who was the ED of epic when they were pushing the county to make grows less than an acre across the board, which was not reasonable for farming as average farm size in CA is 340 acres, youd need more grow space than an acre just to pay the taxes. Then she opened a pot consulting firm, very strange.

Not one person i know anywhere in the county is having any ease or good things within the permit process. And if any of their farms dont produce and sell their 1-5000 pounds successfully, they will go under, people will lose not only business but their homes and big corps will take over, it seems like thats what the end game plan is anyways.
A friend has a working permitted farm with 30 employees, if they dont successfully sell at least 3500 pounds they will lose the business, their farm and all those folks will be out of work. Its ridiculous. Why is pot deserving of different rules and taxes than any other land use industry? A pound of beef takes over 1100 gallons if water but somehow thats ok? All our food has glycophosphates but pot can’t even have a trace of neem??????
The other option is to sell their permit, the county brokers those, so someone with a permit can sell their permit to another permitted farm for $250,000. Then the person buying it can increase their garden size. Is their even a limit to how many can be bought by one grower???

Screw permits like this, id way rather see fish and game officers out catching poachers than dealing with grows. There have been so many bears being shot and dumped on sides of roads, which is double sad as they are just fleeing fires to areas they dont know and are super hungry.

Viva la underground, you all have made the permit process so f’n stupid im gonna stop paying taxes in general again so i dont have to support the BS of enforcement resources being used to deal with pot farms while we have massive poaching and increased crime. Ill funnel that tax money to local stores and non-profits instead, just like the old skool ways.

ratbert
Guest
ratbert
5 years ago

Q: “Why is pot deserving of different rules and taxes than any other land use industry?”

A: It has a limited market in California and it is ILLEGAL to transport across state lines. Therefore, the state must limit the production or the feds will break up Sacramento’s tax cash cow. Legalization comes with rules.

The way you people are turning on each other is absolutely pathetic. Wah wah the Bulgarians. Wah wah the lights are too bright. Wah wah Estelle’s partner grows weed. Wah wah they use chemicals.

Nobody cared what the neighbors were doing for the last 15 years and this is what it got us. Now that the going is getting tough, everyone wants to rat out their neighbor for doing exactly what they themselves have done for years.

stickieicky
Guest
stickieicky
5 years ago

“Retire, Remediate, and Relocate” – a fancy way of convincing mom-and-pop grows to sell their land so that it can be gobbled up by large corporations and foreign investors.

This whole article, it’s tone and particular wording, comes off as a passive-aggressive and condescending approach to the public. How this public-relations approach was approved by so many groups is very telling of how they view the non-legal farmers.

In addition, this article leans towards making one belief that becoming legal is “evolutionary” and that after all the hard work, everything will be fine and dandy. I disagree.

I work at a grow shop, we supply the marijuana farmers with dirt and fertilizer. We are located in the HEART of the emerald triangle, and I know more marijuana farmers than you can count the hairs on your head. I can personally tell you, both the legal and illegal farmers are extremely unhappy. They’re spirits are broken, and so are many of their wallets. And let me also assure you, the legal farms are mostly selling to the black market. I sell them the turkey bags every single day.

Concerned Business Owner and Resident
Guest
Concerned Business Owner and Resident
5 years ago
Reply to  stickieicky

Please continue to expose the “legal” market actually dealing in the Black Market.

Thank you for posting this market insight from the local stores!

The people and organizations who put this press release out ought to be ashamed.. How patronizing can these people possibly get….GO TO HELL!!

“And finally we all should thank, Laura Lasseter-Director Of Operations of the Southern Humboldt Business and Visitors Bureau, whose determination is a guiding light in a community sometimes shroud in its own darkness. Please thank her in person next time you see her.

With love, utmost respect, gratitude and unwavering determination,

Terra Carver HCGA- Executive Director

Natalynne DeLapp HCGA- Operations Director

Hezekiah Allen California Growers Association/Emerald Grown

Casey O’Neill, HappyDay Farms/ California Growers Association/Emerald Grown”

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

Heres a solution===== we discard of or treasonous supervisors like there trying to discard of all of us.we abate them!!!!!! [edit]

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

Hey carl sounds like you’ve experienced that!!!! Probably liked it too

Faro
Guest
Faro
5 years ago

the water board, fish and games, and humboldt county’s long term plan is to get everyone out of the hills and return all the land into big ranches and yuppy vacation properties. Anybody who signs up with them is playing Russian roulette.

If there was a republican candidate who supported getting rid of those agencies i would probably vote for them.

bearjew
Guest
bearjew
5 years ago
Reply to  Faro

“GEt Them Out of the Hills” is there rallying cry indeed. I say, get them police lovers out of the towns & valleys instead

Good gawd
Guest
Good gawd
5 years ago

It’s about damn time someone is calling out these “poor me, I’m a victim because I can’t grow illegally anymore” dishonest weak pansies.

“ ohhhh why can’t you all see…., I’m so special cause I’m a legacy farmer and I should have special rights to not have to follow any rules , regs or pay taxes”
Are you really that dense to think any other business on earth ANYWHERE would be allowed to operate the way you seem to want to? No regs, no rules, no taxes.
Go make these demands elsewhere and see how far you get.

…. no one is taking away any rights from you… In fact you just got handed a great big RIGHT …..to grow commercial cannabis legally.

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

Me too and im a lifelong democrat but look who is in office when this extortion rip off shit show is taking place. Huffman,woods,McGuire. All gotta go

Mom n Pops Kid
Guest
Mom n Pops Kid
5 years ago

Who is Laura Lasseter? Why are we supposed to thank her? Maybe we should all become yuppies and play the part of “most popular” “popularity vote”.
Preaching your b.s. to the people that did all the dirty work, generations of grower families who many went away, and were supposed to thank a newcomer?!
This letter is b.s. and its beyond good and evil. More like what used to be the perfect t balance of light and dark, yin and yang, outlaws and police, we made what used to be a good love hate relationship. We all made money.
Go ahead and run to stand in line, be counted as the “good guys”.
Bunch of ass kissers preaching like your in the safety zone. We shall see. Almost sound like p.o.s.that will turn on their neighbors for not getting permits like You did.

Tavistock
Guest
Tavistock
5 years ago
Reply to  Mom n Pops Kid

The big boys always win. They have been around the acquisition game much longer with deeper pockets. It’s simply how corporations work. Let the little guy build the market and then come in and work their corporate magic.

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

Good gawd. Little east coast transplant living off and pretending success off daddys silver spoon.

LBH
Guest
LBH
5 years ago

You just described all of the greenrushers perfectly.

Mom n Pops Kid
Guest
Mom n Pops Kid
5 years ago

No silver spoons here. Not from east coast. And aren’t the kind of people to count on the one income. Hard working people, not just growers. The last remaining bits of humble.
Not the “beautiful people” who came here only to grow weed then act better than everyone else and were the first to move away. We wont miss you. Bye bye.

bearjew
Guest
bearjew
5 years ago
Reply to  Mom n Pops Kid

I love all the player hating that goes on on these message boards… so kalifornia of you to complain about “greenrushers destroying the environment with daddy’s money”…

I got an idea, stop counting other people’s money and work harder.

LBH
Guest
LBH
5 years ago
Reply to  bearjew

“greenrushers destroying the environment (and Humboldt) with daddy’s money”

You just described all of the greenrushers perfectly.

Hillbilly lovedoctor.
Guest
Hillbilly lovedoctor.
5 years ago

Well looks as if alot of people who have been here for life will be forced to leave as well. And then theres the spoiled east coasters coming in with daddys doe to have a permitted farm.

Proportion
Guest
Proportion
5 years ago

And Mother Nature will win in the end.
Bye now

LostCoastEMT
Guest
LostCoastEMT
5 years ago
Reply to  Proportion

Save the planet!?!? Stop smoking weed….. and sh!ting, and driving, and eating, and consuming oxygen.

Tavistock
Guest
Tavistock
5 years ago
Reply to  LostCoastEMT

I think bill Gates has a shot for that.

Had enough
Guest
Had enough
5 years ago

I don’t mean to be so rough on Sohum. I think Miranda and Salmon Creek have a chance at limited Redwood/ Canna tourism. The old hippies from the Bay and LA moving up here. If we could diminish the hard drug vibe is our best bet. Start growing the new cutting edge strains. Check out Cookies SF menu if you need ideas there are strains that are going for twice the amount as other local favorites. Cookies crossed with dosidos or OGBX1 are what’s got people excited. The best genetics are out of Washington and Oregon. Good luck

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

SOME OF US WORK FULL TIME AND OVER TIME, YOU SHOULD HAVE MEETINGS MORE THAN ONCE AND ALSO IN DIFFERENT AREAS. IF YOU WANTED A LOT OF PEOPLE AT YOUR EVENT & that didn’t happen, take some responsibility instead of speaking like a narcissist. Evaluate your marketing and outreach skills. If you truly wanted a packed event, you would of had one.

Small Fry
Guest
Small Fry
5 years ago

Actually no.. I luv the sunshine.. and I can see the forest for the trees! Wow. This letter sounds frightening…. Like Get on the Bus.. don’t worry.. it’s not headed to an Internment camp…Yeah right.. Retire, Remediate, and Relocate program, sounds like These people are actually afraid of the competition. NO, SORRY I WILL NOT RETIRE, RELOCATE, OR REMEDIATE! I will not move to your reservation of weed so you can treat us like low level employee Walmart workers.
Yes… there is change. Legalization of cannabis is the right thing to do.. but this is not Leagalization, this is extortion and highway robbery. I am for reasonable regulations, I want to see a bright new future for cannabis, but taking peoples homes and farms is not the way forward. It is not working in cooroperation, it is not building, it is destroying.
I have good news for you.. there are other ways forward other then Retire, Remediate, and Relocate program. What a scam.

Alikat
Guest
Alikat
5 years ago

As of today, 10/3/2018, only 8 people (of the 100 minimum required by The Humboldt County Growers Alliance and Emerald Grown) have signed their petition. Traditional Humboldt growers have made their thoughts on the above groups’ agenda known.
Fun fact- 1 of the 8 signatures on the petition is Tara’s, so really only 7 people signed on.