Wild Horses Survive in the Desert by Digging Wells. That story and more on H2O Radio’s weekly news report about water.

Headlines:

Barrels found off the coast of California expose what has long been suspected—industries have treated the ocean as a cheap alternative to landfills.

Herds of wild horses and donkeys roam deserts and dig wells to get water to benefit themselves and other species.

Container ships are piled high with boxes that mostly stay on board even in rough seas, but it turns out, some are falling off.

The waste that comes from corn—stalks, leaves, and husks—can be used to clean water.

Wasps—not the gangsters of the insect world they're made out to be.

This Week in Water for May 2, 2021

Humboldt county lied again, they are in fact coming for resident's unpermitted homes. The Code Enforcement Unit (CEU) plans to bulldoze several homes because they are unpermitted, starting with the almost 40 year old intentional commune in Trinidad, called Yeehaw. Yes, the same community The CEU has tried to eradicate for decades unsuccessfully. Yes, the same community where a mother and child, holding bunny rabbits, were held up at gunpoint by the CEU in 2008, leading to disarmament of the department.

Apparently the county feels it is less of a nuisance to make 7 families homeless than to allow them to live peacefully in affordable housing. But I disagree, I think having a bulldozer show up in your front yard to demolish your home and garden is an actual “nuisance” and “threat to the health, safety and wellness of our community” including the environment. 

For decades the owner, Charlie Garth, has provided affordable housing in the land of absentee property owners, high rents, vacation rentals and air b&bs. YeeHaw is a food forest, with countless maypoles and stunning gathering spaces for reading, music, games, art and education. It features at least 4 organic food gardens, yurts, bunnies, goats, bee-keeping, and also about 10 “ingenious architectural” structures made of upcycled materials, and currently provide housing for several families. The county claims these sustainability created homes are a nuisance because they are unpermitted, all while the county refuses to process Charlie’s owner builder permit, that he applied and paid for 13 years ago. 

I spoke with Charlie extensively this week. I am featuring him on the next Monday Morning Magazine show on kmud Aug 12 from 7-9am (kmud.org), alongside Attorney Eugene Denson, Earth first legend Jack Nounnan and more to dive into the details.

In this sneak-peak, unedited interview I speak with one of Charlie’s “neighbors,” as he calls them, Claire Terra. Claire is the owner of Terra Farms, a small organic family farm in Arcata working to keep our community sustainability fed and healthy. In the interview she speaks about how grateful she is to have affordable housing and discusses what it’s like to live at YeeHaw.

Claire explains, “Its an amazing place to have your child grow up; we walk in the forest, we have a flock of hens, we eat berries every morning and [my daughter] loves to watch the baby apples grow. I just hope and pray she will get to eat the apples again this year...I dont know where we’ll go if [the county] follows through on their bulldozer threat.”

Later Claire mentioned the county’s abatement notice featured five year old images of YeeHaw that were not reflective of current conditions. Claire adds “if you're really going to bulldoze a legacy of affordable, peaceful living--- I mean don't do it, but if you must--- at least cite accurate information.”  

The county is threatening to demolish their homestead and about 12 other structures in late August/Early September. (Yes, the county didn’t give a set date for demolition of their homes because that's how they role at the CEU).

But of course YeeHaw, in standard fashion is creatively standing up to the injustice and holding an ongoing, “Give Them their Permit,” blockade, BBQ and carnival starting in late August. 

If you’ve had enough of the CEU abatement program please join us for the festivities! Property Rights Advocates, human rights advocates, housing advocates, farmers, homesteaders, lovers of peace and freedom, let us come together again to finally put a stop to this inhumanity. I hope to see all at Yeehaw in Trinidad starting late August 2021!

Stay tuned to "The Rights Organization (Defund Code Enforcement)" Facebook page for more information.

Interview from July 28, 2021. Image of Charlie Garth at the "Club house," one of many structures set to be bulldozed

Claire Speaks About HumCo. Code Enforcment's Planned Demolition of Intentional Community "YeeHaw"

In this program produced by KPFA Weekend Anchor David Rosenberg, you'll hear from experts on the Pentagon budget, U.S. foreign policy, and domestic terrorism. Lindsay Koshgarian is the Program Director of the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, Richard Falk is a retired professor of international law at Princeton University and the Chair of Global Law at Queen Mary University in London, and Daryl Johnson was the senior domestic terrorism analyst in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security from August of 2004 to April of 2010; he now runs the law-enforcement consulting firm DT Analytics.


(Image by Brian Stauffer, for Foreign Affairs)

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KMUD Redwood Community Radio Public Affairs features the Institute for Sustainable Forestry, Voices - our weekly Poetry show, KMUD exclusives with dedicated Hosts, and live Public Affairs specials!

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