November 1997
eureka's homeless refugees
County officials carry out mass eviction, demolish encampment

by Robert Norse
H
umboldt County officials successfully used a combination of relentless disinformation and brute force to remove the last of the homeless residents from their 120 vehicles at the South Spit Jetty in Eureka, dis-locatiag more than 100 and jailing four of the homeless on October 21. The cynical charade was played out

to its brutal conclusion as Humboldt County swept in swiftly to seal its carefully-planned sabotage of a binding August court settlement between campers and County agencies that should have allowed Jetty residents months to relocate and secured permanent housing for the 150-200 community members.
As reported last month in Street Spirit, a "health crisis" was the power card used to sabotage the terms of the August settlement. That

settlement would have allowed campers to remain on the federal end of the property until an itinerant campground or other housing arrangements were established.
Swift removal of the homeless campers remained the pressing concern of the County and a key element of State Sen. Thompson's bill establishing a managed recreational area. The Coastal Conservancy — chosen to run the area — would not purchase the property unless and until the homeless were cleared away.
'health crisis' concocted
A few spring and summer cases of Shigella dysentery, both in Eureka and on the South Spit, were not serious enough for County Health Officer Ann Lindsay to send in por-tapotties, fresh water, or sewage hookups to the Jetty, though this is what residents had sought for years.
But suddenly, in the wake of the signed settlement between vehicle dwellers and the County, a few cases of dysentery were enough to override the legal agreement, and order an October 2nd eviction deadline. Doctor Wendy Ring, the regular doctor at South Spit, disputed Lindsay's "public health emergency" in a sworn four-page declaration to
See Eureka's Refugees page 12