Sheriff’s Honsal Says: Deaths Are Down in the County, ‘Steady Increase in Domestic Violence,’ Beach-goers Should Pack Out Trash and More

Humboldt County’s Sheriff Billy Honsal has been answering questions since the stay-at-home orders were instituted on a two question per media outlet, roughly twice a week, basis. The Department of Health and Human Services or office takes the questions and reads them on camera for the Sheriff’s response. The resulting video, called a Media Availability, is then provided to news outlets at the end of the day.

Here are some of the main points covered in the May 26 Media Availability session with a rough transcript of answers from Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal, followed by questions we would have liked to ask in response if appropriate.

Media Question: Do you think the county behaved responsibly this Memorial weekend?
Answer by Sheriff Honsal:

I think overall, I think our county did a pretty good job. You know, we had a beautiful weekend here, we saw some nice weather, and people got out. And they went up and down to different areas of our county, and so I think for the most part we did good.

30 sec in:
Media Question: Were there many deputies out patrolling beaches, lakes, rivers this weekend, and if so was anybody cited for violating safety guidelines?
Answer by Sheriff Honsal:

So, we had our full complement of deputies out, essentially two deputies in all these beat areas. And so we patrolled Big Lagoon, all the way through the rivers, down the coastline all the way to Shelter Cove this weekend. And for the most part they saw compliance with our local health orders. And though we saw a lot of people congregating in certain areas, there were compliance checks made and people were sticking with the household and staying that physical distancing 6 feet apart, so overall I think it was good.
No one was cited that I’m aware of as far as at least the sheriff’s office jurisdiction goes.

1 mins 15 sec in:
Media Question: Last week Sheriff Hansol urged no tourists over the holiday weekend- Has HCSO received any blowback from leaders in the local tourism industry, and how many citations were issued to out of the area folks recreating over the long weekend?
Answer by Sheriff Honsal:

So, we have people that were, you know, not too thrilled about that statement that was made by me last week regarding ‘we don’t want tourism here’ and so we do see a little bit of the people sharing that frustration here, but my goal is to protect our residents here in our county. And so we don’t want people coming here to vacation, seeking relief from their areas like the Bay Area in Southern California that are on strict lockdowns. And so, we are not the oasis for them to come hang out with, and to potentially do you know push Covid into our communities. And so my goal is to back up the health officer and to not allow travel here within our county. And so that’s the point to me, is to protect our citizens.

Now, mind you we are not setting up roadblocks, we are not setting up checkpoints to check people’s papers. We also understand that there are people that are traveling essentially through Humboldt County to a destination up north, a destination down south. And so they do have a right to stop and stay overnight somewhere. We don’t want them on the road, you know, when they were traveling days from one destination to another. So there are people that stay overnight, in different places on their way through. And so that is essentially a good compromise here. But again, we don’t want people vacationing, we don’t want people going out and about and intermingling with our folks, and especially spreading COVID and if they’re sick and bringing those kind of things into our county.

3 mins in:
Media Question: We have reports of large numbers of people over this weekend at popular Southern Humboldt beaches like the Miranda Bridge, Sylvandale, and Hidden Springs. The issues seem likely to continue through the summer. These areas generally don’t have bathrooms or garbage disposal available. What is the County doing to address the concerns of local residents who worry about impacts as visitors line the roadways, leave trash, possibly cause disease with human waste, and have COVID-19 concerns?

Beach-goers under the Miranda Bridge this weekend. [Crop of a photo provided by a Southern Humboldt resident]

Well listen, I mean, this is Humboldt County. We have all the wild rivers we have coastlines, we have people using that’s a beautiful area to explore. And so what you’ve been taught from the very beginning is ‘pack in, pack out’, right? And so we’re not going to, we shouldn’t create any masses in these areas that we are recreating in. So if you were going to take a vacation, or some time at the beach or the river, make sure you police up all of your trash and take care of those things. And then yeah, there are no bathrooms- so you should prepare for that. And so, you should not spend an awful long time, where you need to use the bathroom… So, that’s what you need to do, you need to prepare for those situations where if you need to use the bathroom, make sure you go to a place that does have access to a bathroom. And there are some parks that are set up for day use, do have bathrooms available, that do have outhouses available. So make sure that you recreate near a place like that if you do need that. So, it’s responsible to keep our county clean. So I urge people to make sure that you do “pack in” and you “pack out” whatever you bring.

Media Followup questions we’re unable to ask because of the format:

• Considering that not all recreation areas are equipped with restrooms or even porta-potties, and sometimes not even with garbage cans, and taking into account that these are the only recreation areas available to many sections of the county without driving over an hour or more to a more well-equipped state park, for example, is there any patrol or temporary hand-washing stations being provided to these more remote recreation areas such as areas of Southern Humboldt or Eastern Humboldt?

4 mins 40 sec in:
Media Question: Can you talk about crime and calls for service that you received over Memorial Day weekend? We are still under shelter-in-place, but did you see an increase in calls, etc?
Answer by Sheriff Honsal:

We didn’t see a huge increase, but we do still see a steady increase in domestic violence type crimes. So, domestic disturbances are still happening. Fights between parents and children, spouses, people can’t get along with their neighbors and those type of things. We do hear those. And so we did get some ‘shots fired’ calls, you know, or at least the parents are hearing ‘shots fired’ calls, you know, around the county, so we are responding to those kind of things as well.

But we do see that crime is pretty much steady. But you know, like, Eureka Police Department they had two homicides this last week, so the potential for violence is there. We understand that. We have increased patrol in the Cutten area as a response to the homicide that occurred there. And so we are doing our best to make sure that we are a visible presence throughout the county.

Again, I want to reiterate that even though we are sheltering in place, and staying at home, they really should continue to lock their doors- to use their exterior lighting, to make sure they are doing those things that make sure you don’t become a victim- those preventative measures. So don’t keep anything in your vehicle, because thefts do occur.

We did have a theft in Southern Humboldt, where a place got burglarized and we were able to find the suspect and retrieve and get most of the property back so that was good. But thefts are occurring throughout the county, so please don’t make yourself a victim by allowing someone the opportunity to steal your stuff if possible.

Media Followup questions we’re unable to ask because of the format:

• A string of burglaries was noted on social media recently occurring in Redway, as far as your office is aware, how many burglaries were reported in Southern Humboldt in the last week?

6 mins 15 sec in:
Media Question: Earlier, as the COVID crisis first unfolded, crime issues seemed to have subsided but more recently we seem to be seeing a surge, could you give us a clear picture of what crimes are doing? Are crimes as a whole rising? If so, which specifically are rising the most? Are some crimes still remaining low? If so, which ones?
Answer by Sheriff Honsal:

So, overall our crime, our calls for service are down. But we do see as people are kind of coming out from shelter in place, that people are going and intermixing in those kind of things and there are crimes that are occurring throughout the county.

The only thing we did notice that our deaths through our coroner’s office have been down lately. And also talking to the CHP, traffic accidents have been down, because there’s people that aren’t traveling. And so we do see those kind of positive effects. That you know, Traffic deaths are low and so those kind of things because there’s less people on the road, right?

But there’s still, crime is still occurring. Like I said, domestic violence calls are still kind of leading the way and slowly we are getting more and more theft cases and those kinds of things. And like I said we haven’t seen a huge uptick in crime but there is still crime out there, so please be prepared and do those things to protect yourself, and make sure you don’t become a victim of crime here in the county.

Media Followup questions we’re unable to ask because of the format:

7 mins 45 sec in:
Media Question: Shelter in place rage is becoming more and more prevalent, what is the sheriff’s office doing to deter violence, especially in domestic situations?
Answer by Sheriff Honsal:

So, we want to urge people, number one, to- as the weather starts getting nice here- to make sure you take a break, okay, whatever that is. So sometimes the best thing to do is ‘walk off’ something to make sure that you don’t stay in a situation that’s going to cause somebody to become angry or those kind of things. To create some distance between you and maybe a loved one that you were in an argument with.

The worst thing that you can do is continue to escalate a situation by staying in a situation that it causes that confrontation. So, we don’t want that to happen.

We do want, also, to steer people towards our mental health crisis lines here in the county. You can easily find those through our website, or googling county mental health. And so we can help people talk through this issue. And so it’s important that people do reach out. (Crisis services: 707-445-7715 24 hours a day, 888-849-5728)
Also, people that are a victim of domestic violence, reach out to Humboldt Domestic Violence. These are advocates that are there to help, and to help people steer through some advocacy groups and get some counseling that they may need.

Also the District Attorney’s office has victim advocates that are able to steer people to an avenue that can help them if they are in some kind of a crisis situation.

Media Followup questions we’re unable to ask because of the format:

• Have you seen instances where people experienced tenant harassment or harm are seeking out restraining orders with a move-out request, because an eviction is unattainable due to the shelter in place orders and the moratorium on evictions?

9 mins 10 sec in:
Media Question: As places begin reopening, can you talk about the impact an increasing case count may have on the progress of opening back up, and the business certification program? For instance, the businesses are allowed to submit their plans for reopening, then once approved can re-open. Will this process be slowed down at all with an increase in cases?
Answer by Sheriff Honsal:

So yeah, the cases are being approved and we are pushing out a lot of retail businesses right now and other businesses throughout the county are being approved and they are having compliance certificates issued to them. But this process can be slowed at any time if the health officer believes there is significant spread of COVID-19 through our community. So we want to keep an eye on that.

We understand that as things open up, that there will be more community transmission. There will be people that will come down with COVID. We have expanded our testing, and so it will happen. The fact is that we sheltered in place to prepare, to prepare for people getting sick. In the hospitals, we have an overflow basically that will allow more people to be treated here in our county. So we are working with our hospitals. We do not want people to get sick, but we understand that that is ultimately what may happen here in our county as we start opening things up, and that does happen. And so we are prepared for that.

But, the health officer, her duty is to make sure that our county is protected. And so if our numbers continue to go up, our hospitalizations go up, our deaths go up, that is something we are going to keep track of, make sure that we can dial back on certification, dial back on more businesses opening up.

We are opening things up based upon a risk assessment, right now. And so even though the governor has kind of, you know it’s hard to predict what he’s going to do next. You know, there’s things in Phase 3 that he says can open up now, and Phase 2- salons is one of those things, churches it’s one of those things- and so we are trying to do what we can to stay up with that and offer certifications for that process. But we are going to go down the line, and when the health officer has determined that they are safe to open up new business and new sectors, we are going to do that.

The last thing we want to do is close businesses, right… and go back to shelter in place- that would be the worst thing that can happen- we all recognize that. And so we want to make sure that the businesses that open, you know, have restrictions in place and that can stay open, despite what maybe can happen in a future emergency.

Media Followup questions we’re unable to ask because of the format:

11 mins 50 sec in:
Media Question: There are reports of businesses that are refusing to ask customers to wear masks, which has caused other locals to fear for their health. How many citations has the sheriff’s office issued for failure to wear masks, and what are you doing about businesses that aren’t requiring customers to wear a mask?
Answer by Sheriff Honsal:

So, businesses – we are not requiring them to ask their customers to wear a mask. We ask people to have a mask as a requirement, but it’s not the business’s job to enforce that. They can have a policy in place, and they can refuse service for someone who doesn’t want to wear a mask. And someone can claim their constitutional rights or whatever else they want to do, but still that business has a right to not serve anyone for any various reasons, right? No shirt, no shoes, no service kind of thing. So, businesses can stand behind that, but a business can also choose not to enforce that. They have to have their employees have a facial covering, but they don’t necessarily need to require their customers to have a facial covering.

So, it is a situation where we have a free market, and a free society here. And so if you walk into a business, and you don’t feel it’s safe, despite the fact it may have a compliance certificate or not, you don’t have to shop there. And so you can turn around and go shop somewhere else. So that’s something that, you know, we want people to make sure that if you don’t feel comfortable, don’t shop at a location like that.

Media Followup questions we’re unable to ask because of the format:

13 mins 5 sec in:
Media Question: How do you respond to people who argue that they have a constitutional right not to wear a mask?
Answer by Sheriff Honsal:

Well right now, I mean as far as constitutional right or not, I think this is something we can do to help one another out. Okay? And so as far as the freedom of wearing a mask or not, that is something, this is the order of a public health officer that has the backing of a health and safety code. It is a misdemeanor to violate that.

There are some avenues where people can opt not to wear a mask, where it’s an ADA issue, where they have a disability that prevents them to safely using a mask, then they don’t have to wear a mask. But that is because you have a disability- not because it’s a constitutional right.

Now, mind you, we are taking all of this into consideration. And so we want to go out and enforce the law, but we also want to make sure that people are compliant here, so again, education is first. We are documenting people that we come into contact with that don’t have a facial covering in public, and that they can receive a warning, if they receive more than one warning, then they could get a citation. And then it’s up to them in order to pay the fine or take it to court, or anything else that could be associated.

Sheriff Honsal added:

The certification process is going to be coming out, about dine-in services opening up later this week…there’s going to be some movement on that. Salons and barbershops, you know, have an opportunity to apply for certifications. And so that will open up sometime soon here, so the health officer will be reviewing those and making sure that, you know, again it’s based upon risk. And also churches- churches will open up- can open up this week for church services. There are some restrictions on that. Churches don’t have to necessarily go through the compliance certification process, but they can submit their plans, we have guidance on our website. We can help them with that. I think it boosts people’s confidence in going back to church when they do have some compliance certification with the county. And so we have that guidance there to help churches do that, and to continue to look at our website, look at these variances that do occur, and that we can help people establish their business and making sure that they do everything correctly when they do open up.

Community members with questions or concerns are encouraged to call 441-5000 for additional information.