#12. Sheriff Billy Honsal: A Journey through Humboldt County’s Past, Present, and Future

Scott Hammond: Hey, folks. Like to welcome, uh, our sheriff, Billy Honsal.

Billy Honsal: Scott, thanks for having me today.

Scott Hammond: You look great today.

Billy Honsal: Well, thank you. I got, uh, a good six hours sleep last night.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, if I could only do that.

Billy Honsal: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Yeah. The six is good, so, uh, uh, pleasure to have you.

Tell us a little bit of, about the b- the Billy story.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. Uh, you know, born and raised in Humboldt County.

Uh, it's something that, uh, take a lot of pride in.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Went to local schools, Eureka High School.

Uh, my parents-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Billy Honsal: … uh, local. My dad was, uh, a 30-year veteran of the Eureka Police

Department.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: And he, he retired in 2001 as a, as

a patrol commander, p- uh, captain of the police department.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: My mom, um, was a, a school teacher. Started out.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: Worked her way up into a principal job at elementary school, vice

principal.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Billy Honsal: Principal at, um, at one of the junior highs,

at Eureka High School.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: So their public service has kinda been in my background.

Scott Hammond: Local.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Through, through and through. Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. And so it's, uh, you know, it was always kinda,

you know, kinda instilled in me and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … kind of a part of it, so.

Scott Hammond: I've never done this before, but you ready?

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: You're 100% Humboldt.

Billy Honsal: Yes, I am.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, it's good.

Billy Honsal: Yes, exactly.

Scott Hammond: And a lot Eureka.

Billy Honsal: A lot Eureka, a lot of Humboldt Bay, you know.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Grew up on Humboldt Hill, and, uh, you know, back in the day, in the,

where you can ride your bicycle everywhere.

Scott Hammond: Everywhere.

Billy Honsal: I rode it to Eureka, uh, you know, on the highway,

Cutten, visit friends, you know, and this is something

And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … yeah.

Scott Hammond: I rode it safely as a kid.

Billy Honsal: Yeah, absolutely. R- rode down to Country Club Market,

different things, came back home.

Scott Hammond: Got your candy and your soda.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: So.

Scott Hammond: No, I, um, grew up in San Diego, same thing.

You take the bus from where we lived in National City, south of there, and you could go downtown and play, you know, the video games and look at record stores and pinball-

Billy Honsal: Right

Scott Hammond: … and eat at Jack in the Box, and

10 years old, didn't worry about it.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's a little, little different world.

Billy Honsal: It's a different world, yeah. I think, you know, information

thing.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Uh, you know, sharing information, the internet,

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: But when we hear and see so much now-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … it kinda freaks people out-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Billy Honsal: … and you think that there's, you know,

know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … can you trust your neighbors and

isolate themselves now-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … wherever they go.

Scott Hammond: Oh. Yeah, I'm a big anti-fan of, like,

uh, whether it's politics or media, there's a division out there, weird, and I don't buy it, and yet it's so propagated.

Billy Honsal: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Us and, us and them, Pink Floyd.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Dark Side of the Moon.

Billy Honsal: You know, I learned something the other day.

Um, and, you know, the word university.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Billy Honsal: You know, we send people to the university to get an

And, um, you know, someone broke that down to me and said originally, university was all about,

um, uh, d- being diverse, having unity in diversity.

Scott Hammond: I like it.

Billy Honsal: Uh, so having that as a, as a guiding principle is like, hey, we

can all be diverse, but we have to all be unified-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … in our diversity. We can't be segregated.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: We can't… Even though we have differences,

really-

Scott Hammond: That's good

Billy Honsal: … you know, America is, is supposed to be about.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, so I thought-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … that was a really, really good thing.

Scott Hammond: We lost some ground, but hey, I think we're gonna get it back.

I went to Humboldt State Diversity.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Wait, how would I… [laughs]

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Wait, Cal Poly.

Billy Honsal: Unity. Yes, I know Cal Poly.

Scott Hammond: It's Cal Poly.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Everybody rolls their eyes and has to correct themselves anymore.

Billy Honsal: I know.

Scott Hammond: So who was Billy Honsal at, say, 15? What were you… What's…

Give a day, what were you about, what were your goals?

Billy Honsal: Yeah. You know, at 15 there was a transition there.

Uh, you know, I was a, I was a big soccer player growing up.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Billy Honsal: And, uh, played soccer, traveling soccer.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, and then at 15 I learned that,

a lot of high school, you know, girls didn't really go to soccer games, uh, to-

Scott Hammond: No, they don't care about that

Billy Honsal: … you know, they didn't. They didn't care [laughs] about that.

And as a high school boy I thought, "I need to go play football." So they need kickers in football, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: So I decided to go out and, and try to be a kicker.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Billy Honsal: Turns out that I couldn't kick a football, you know.

Scott Hammond: It's different.

Billy Honsal: Different. And, um, but I, I could catch a football, so I-

Scott Hammond: That's a play

Billy Honsal: … I learned how to be a wide receiver,

Scott Hammond: Eureka High?

Billy Honsal: At Eureka High School. Played my sophomore through senior year.

Scott Hammond: Were you guys good th- those years?

Billy Honsal: You know what, we were okay. We were okay.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Billy Honsal: Arcata was the school to beat.

Scott Hammond: Interesting. Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And Rami Dickinson was the running back that, from Arcata,

also Del Norte was tough. Uh, but we had a-

Scott Hammond: Del Norte was tough

Billy Honsal: … we had a good team.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: We made the playoffs.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, and got smoked. We went to,

uh, one year went to De La Salle-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Billy Honsal: … in Concord and played on their-

Scott Hammond: Catholic school, right?

Billy Honsal: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And they were part of their undefeated seasons.

You know, I think they had 12 years of undefeated

Scott Hammond: They're crazy.

Billy Honsal: We were a part of that stat-

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: … of being defeated by them.

Scott Hammond: We're proud of that loss. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: Yes. Yeah. So, you know, good times, high school.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, that's great.

Billy Honsal: So 15, you know, I was heavily involved in, uh, in church,

well.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Um, and, uh, Bethel Church in Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, you know, just that was definitely a part of who I

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: And then just being involved in student government.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, being as involved in school and, uh, and

hanging out with my friends.

Scott Hammond: Did you meet your wife in school or h- how did you guys meet?

Billy Honsal: I… My wife, uh, I didn't know my wife in high school.

She was a year older than me and went to-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … Fortuna High School.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, we had mutual friends-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … which was weird.

Scott Hammond: Small county, you would have that, yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. We, we had mutual friends, but we never-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … never heard of each other, and, uh, I met her at College of Redwoods.

Uh, funny, I saw her one day and, um, I thought, "Wow, she's a beautiful girl."

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Billy Honsal: You know, "I need to meet her."

And then, uh, you know, once you see something, again, so I started seeing her in different

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … around, and, uh, you know-

Scott Hammond: Not ran- not random, Billy.

Billy Honsal: It's rand-

Scott Hammond: Not random.

Billy Honsal: Okay, I was stalking her. I'm sorry.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I don't believe that either, but…

[laughs]

Billy Honsal: But I ran into her at SFO. I ran into her at a different spot.

Scott Hammond: That's funny.

Billy Honsal: I was working at the Ingomar at the time as a, as a, as a-…

busboy and I served her, you know, and her parents dinner. And I'm like, "Oh, my gosh."

Scott Hammond: That's funny.

Billy Honsal: And then I finally met her at, of all places, the Fortuna Rodeo.

Scott Hammond: Of course.

Billy Honsal: Yes. It was actually 30 years ago this month,

Scott Hammond: Funny

Billy Honsal: … that I met her.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How many kids?

Billy Honsal: We have four kids.

Scott Hammond: Right. Oh.

Billy Honsal: Three boys and a girl.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Billy Honsal: Age 22, 20, 16, and seven now.

Scott Hammond: Oh, teenagers. And the baby.

Billy Honsal: And the baby, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: So we got the spectrum.

Scott Hammond: So people go, "Hey, nine kids." Scott and Joni,

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … 19, and it's like

I always laugh at guys with four or five, you know, 'cause you got all the

comments.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: "Oh, you have such a big family."

Billy Honsal: I know.

Scott Hammond: "Oh, it must be brutal." Like, not really.

Billy Honsal: [laughs] Exactly. We still-

Scott Hammond: The oldest kids do all the labor.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. It's still manageable. We still have a car

Scott Hammond: That's cool, yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And you teach the older ones to do chores.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Get in there and chore it up, man. What are you doing here? What

Billy Honsal: Exactly. Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. There's chores now. Go.

Billy Honsal: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Um, so tell, uh, who were you at 20 then? You

Billy Honsal: Yes. Went to College of Redwoods. I

I was working at the Ingomar as a busboy, and I was also working construction.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: A good friend of mine, Steve Strombeck-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Billy Honsal: … uh, employed me in his, uh, construction company.

Scott Hammond: That's funny.

Billy Honsal: I knew nothing about construction.

Scott Hammond: Early Steve.

Billy Honsal: And … Early Steve.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: This is… And so he, um, you know,

me what it was to actually work for a living, and to work with my

hands-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Billy Honsal: … and to build things, and to learn how to do things.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Billy Honsal: And it was something that was totally foreign to me. I had my…

You know, my dad really didn't build anything.

He didn't-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … you know, teach me any of the, the trades,

But-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Billy Honsal: … but I learned that, and also wor- learned work ethic.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Billy Honsal: You know, Steve instilled a sense of work ethic.

Always giving 110%.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: Always getting there early, doing the job, um-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … and, and being a good communicator.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Billy Honsal: What it takes to get the job done.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Billy Honsal: And I was, uh, yeah, I was really happy with that.

Got, uh, skills enough to, to get in trouble later on home. I figured I could do some of my own

Scott Hammond: [laughs] I got this.

Ooh.

Billy Honsal: My wife still is, you know, is, is, is feeling the, uh, the heat

of that because she, you know.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: There's things that we built. I built a house 20 years ago, and, uh,

still projects at the house I still need to complete.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you built the entire home?

Billy Honsal: Well, no, no. I, I should say there was things that I

home-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Billy Honsal: … as it was built.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: And I'm still working on those today.

Scott Hammond: Of course you are, with a honey-do list,

[laughs]

Billy Honsal: Yes, exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, Steve's a great hum- 100% Humboldt guy.

Billy Honsal: Yep.

Scott Hammond: And, you know, I, um,

I think there's some dimensions to that. He's a big giver to Redwood Teen Challenge and different things. But yeah, what a, what a neat guy.

Billy Honsal: You know it exactly right, and that's one of the thing he taught me

know, you have to give back. You have to-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … give back to your community.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: You have to give back to the, to the people-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and also the, uh, organizations that you believe in.

Scott Hammond: [clears throat]

Billy Honsal: And, uh, you know, and he's not someone just to, you know, I

guess blindly give. There has to be some kind of result.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Billy Honsal: Right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: There has to be something. But-

Scott Hammond: That's good

Billy Honsal: … you know, one thing that he is also, I mean, he has,

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And if God puts something on his heart to do-

Scott Hammond: He goes for it

Billy Honsal: … he does it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: He doesn't question his faith.

Scott Hammond: He doesn't.

Billy Honsal: He doesn't question. He trusts God, and he just, he goes

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And, and he provides example after example of

and seeing the fruit of that.

Scott Hammond: The result, yeah.

Billy Honsal: And so I try to live like that as well.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And he started very small, right?

He was-

Billy Honsal: He did.

Scott Hammond: Wasn't his dad a builder or a-

Billy Honsal: His dad was a-

Scott Hammond: … trash?

Billy Honsal: … you know, local businessman and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Was he a trash guy? Was he-

Billy Honsal: He was. He was part of the-

Scott Hammond: That's funny

Billy Honsal: … yeah, uh-

Scott Hammond: City ga- city garbage?

Billy Honsal: … city garbage.

Scott Hammond: Of Eureka.

Billy Honsal: City garbage. But, uh, but-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Billy Honsal: … Steve started out really small.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, you know, he had, there's a lot of de- you know,

to experience-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … you know, early on.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Uh, but he overcame a lot of stuff.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And then, you know, God has blessed him over the years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: He started buying different things.

And he told me, you know, one of the other things he told me, real estate."

Scott Hammond: Yeah. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: "Buy your first house. At 20, you should buy a house." He told me,

an apartment. Buy a duplex."

Scott Hammond: Should've bought the house.

Billy Honsal: "Live in one side." I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: You know, when houses were, you know-

Scott Hammond: Nothing

Billy Honsal: … 100,000, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … or 80,000.

Scott Hammond: Or-

Billy Honsal: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, 50.

Billy Honsal: [laughs] That's so-

Scott Hammond: Remember that? Old people. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: You look back, it's like when someone told you, "Hey,

in the '90s.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: It's like, "Yeah, okay. Whatever.

I'll get on that."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: You know, but he gave that same advice, you know.

Over and over again, he was giving-

Scott Hammond: That's funny

Billy Honsal: … advice like that. And, uh, and of course, being a 20-year-old kid,

worried about my next car I was gonna buy.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: And I wasn't thinking long term.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: But I wish I would have thought about that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … from the very beginning.

Scott Hammond: We have a, a, a guy we insured. He was a builder

in, uh, in Cupertino down in Apple country.

Billy Honsal: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Silicon Valley. And he had a guy from, uh, Intel

cabaña he built. He built this ornate thing by his pool, bro, really sorry." And he goes, "All I got is some stock in this little called Intel."

Billy Honsal: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: He, he goes, "Well, okay."

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He still ha- It's, it's only, you know,

flipped, doubled, whatever you call it-

Billy Honsal: Yeah, exactly

Scott Hammond: … when it-

Billy Honsal: Split

Scott Hammond: … splits.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: It's only split like 100 times.

Billy Honsal: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: And it's, it's the most valuable asset he has.

Billy Honsal: Right.

Scott Hammond: He goes, "It's just incredible." So,

in children. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: So.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Our legacy's gonna last for … in a different way.

Billy Honsal: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Please take care of me, children.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, please.

Billy Honsal: Yes, exactly.

Scott Hammond: I'm just-

Billy Honsal: 'Cause I'm investing in you. You invest in me.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause I'm gonna need it.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: For sure. That's funny.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, 20, you, so you did s- Did you play soccer at CR?

Billy Honsal: I didn't. I went through, and, uh, I just got a general education.

But I, but when I met my wife at, at 20-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … uh, I decided that-

Scott Hammond: You too.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Weird. Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. I decided that she was gonna be the one I'm,

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Billy Honsal: And I looked around, and, and I wasn't thinking law enforcement

know, got out of high school.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: But I kinda got toward, you know, kinda going that way thinking,

I support a wife?" And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Billy Honsal: … and I don't know. I, I just started taking administration of

classes out at College of Redwoods.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: And it interested me, and I have my background with my father,

something that I felt like I was good at-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and, uh, and I was interested in.

So I went to the police academy in 1995.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Billy Honsal: And, uh, put myself through and, and-

Scott Hammond: Did you graduate and everything?

Billy Honsal: I graduated. [laughs] Yes.

Scott Hammond: You did.

Billy Honsal: I was successful. I was no near the top of my class.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And I was just someone that was there just to, you know,

time, and-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Billy Honsal: And learned a lot, and at that point in time, there

here in the county-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … but I felt like I wanted to make my name

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: I didn't want my dad to have influence. He was still working here.

Scott Hammond: Good for you.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, and so the first job that

Department.

Scott Hammond: Whoa. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: Talk about culture shock.

Scott Hammond: Middle of the valley, yeah.

Billy Honsal: So we go… Yeah, so we go f- from basically the,

heart of the Central Valley. It's right there in the middle.

Scott Hammond: It is.

Billy Honsal: And it is a, a, you know, a totally different environment.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: We have, um, farmland. Um, it is a city

that's divided by railroad tracks.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: And you know what? The old analogy, you know, analogy of,

tracks, it was like that in Madera. If you lived on the east side, you were a totally different economic status-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Billy Honsal: … than the west side.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: And totally, you know, different.

We had a, uh, a big migrant population down there.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, migrant farm workers. And I actually used the two

years of Spanish that I learned in high school-

Scott Hammond: Mucho gusto

Billy Honsal: … you know? Yeah. A, a lot down there.

Scott Hammond: Right. That's cool.

Billy Honsal: And, and it was really cool.

Scott Hammond: Do you still speak-

Billy Honsal: Senora Quimby from-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Billy Honsal: … Eureka High School-

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: … you know, would be proud of me. And I s- So yeah,

Scott Hammond: Mucho gusto

Billy Honsal: … yeah, I can still speak. Monos arriba.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Tada uelta. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Dos cervezas, por favor.

Billy Honsal: Si. Yes.

Scott Hammond: Mucho gusto.

Billy Honsal: Mucho cervezas.

Scott Hammond: [laughs] Mucho.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: So was it more violent down there in the sense of-

Billy Honsal: It was more-

Scott Hammond: … gang- gangs and stuff?

Billy Honsal: A lot of gang activity.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: It's right there in the middle of, uh, of California,

Mexican gang-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … issue. And, uh, and the, the gangs were very violent.

I was first on scene from a couple different gang homicides.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, and so we had a gang unit. There

a very good department.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Um, but, um, but I was making $12 an

hour-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … you know, being a police officer in the Central

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … you know, and doing this. So, uh, the next step, my wife

wa- wanted to go on to be a dental hygienist.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, one of the dental hygiene schools

she… And so she wanted to go there. So I needed to look for a job in the Bay Area. Uh, the city of Sunnyvale, uh, was hiring-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Billy Honsal: … and it's a public safety department.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Billy Honsal: And I thought, "Unique. I've always kinda wanted to be a fireman,"

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Uh, it seems easy work to me, you know?

Scott Hammond: Who would? Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. You know it? I mean, they, they-

Scott Hammond: Sit around and-

Billy Honsal: Sit around 24-hour shifts.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: You kidding me? I mean, fire doesn't shoot back.

I mean-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … how hard can this be?

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: And they sit around, they work out at night every day,

Scott Hammond: Yes

Billy Honsal: … you watch the TVs.

Scott Hammond: Life of Riley, yeah. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: It… [laughs] Yes. And you know what?

Scott Hammond: Not true.

Billy Honsal: [laughs] Well, I, I can speak to that in a little bit.

Um, the, uh, I, I got, I got hired by the City of Sunnyvale. It was a great job.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Billy Honsal: Um, and fantastic opportunities

My wife went through hygiene school in the Bay Area.

Scott Hammond: Is that, is that East Bay?

Billy Honsal: It is, it is South Bay. It's right in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Scott Hammond: It's right in Silicon… Okay, gotcha.

Billy Honsal: So it's on Cupertino, you know, right there it's-

Scott Hammond: It's right there

Billy Honsal: … right there. So you have Yahoo, that's the center of,

You have Apple that's there.

Scott Hammond: Is Google, Google there?

Billy Honsal: National Semiconductor. Uh, Google's in Mountain View-

Scott Hammond: Just up the road

Billy Honsal: … but Google does have, does have a, a, you know, a footprint in-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … in Sunnyvale as well. But it's,

It… This- The city had a lot of money-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and a lot of technology, and they were very innovative.

That was part of, of, of who they were.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Billy Honsal: And I learned a lot about, about what it takes to,

community and using technology and innovation to be better police officers and do law enforcement better.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, it was a fantastic job. Loved the job.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: So much so that I was probably married to the job.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, you know-

Scott Hammond: Uh-oh

Billy Honsal: … my wife, yeah, my wife and I-

Scott Hammond: Oh, no

Billy Honsal: … you know, it, we, you know, decided what's best for us.

Once we had two kids-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … it was probably best for us to move out of

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Billy Honsal: … and move back to Humboldt because we

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: I had the commute. I was working odd hours 'cause the commute,

and, you know, it just… We wanted to, we wanna raise our kids back in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Right. Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And, and so at that point in time,

uh, and started my career path here through,

agencies.

Scott Hammond: Nice. Good journey back.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How many people come back? It's amazing, right?

Billy Honsal: It is. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: There's a percentage.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. People-

Scott Hammond: All of ours have gone, and they don't just kinda come back yet.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. I got a brother that left and went to Sacramento.

And my sister left-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … to go to Arizona once she had kids here

California.

Scott Hammond: I have a son that's got a doctorate, and they're in Netherlands now,

he comes back, he goes, " [inhales] [exhales] There's no air like this, Dad. This is the air quality that everybody wants." And it, it else. He loves it.

Billy Honsal: Right.

Scott Hammond: So Jesse just, he goes, "The air."

Billy Honsal: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: I go, "Yeah, that's… You're right.

It's good air." You know, we're up McKinleyville,

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Then you go in the valley, it's 120 degrees, and you go,

[laughs]

Billy Honsal: Right.

Scott Hammond: It's oven air. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: But you go to Willow Creek, you go to Southern Humboldt, you know,

heat-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and being amongst the redwood trees in

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … so good, even in the heat.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, there is something special about Humboldt

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: There's something very unique and special, and, and, uh,

and then we s- I mean, the, the climate and the environment-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … and all of the, the natural resources, I mean, we

in the county.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. And I, I would, you know, uh, let's,

there is, there is a, um, an intangible about Humboldt County that you're– we're talking around, and I think it probably still will be done talking. But there's, there is something really unique about this place. It… Part of it's the people, um, kind of the,

uh… I mean, there's a, there's a real diversity here, good uniqueness to the, the quality of people I think of… Our friend Ron Pelegi left the area.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Sold his business, and he said the one thing he remembers

is that people, even though they were dramatically different in so many ways, they could still get on and g- get with it and cooperate or have, have relationships and connection.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, um, maybe, maybe that's changing in some degree,

Anyway.So real quick, back to your soccer days. Did, was Sean O'Gara playing soccer when you were in high school? He, he, he may have predated you at Mack High.

Billy Honsal: Uh, I don't remember-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … that name. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, I'll, I'll move-

Billy Honsal: Okay

Scott Hammond: … move through that. So, uh, four kids?

Billy Honsal: Four kids.

Scott Hammond: Nice. So t- uh, give us a little history about how you got

job, and maybe a little history of the

Billy Honsal: Yeah. Uh, it was very unique. Uh-

Scott Hammond: [clears throat]

Billy Honsal: … I, I spent my time, when I came back to Humboldt County,

Police Department, I went to the, the district attorney's office-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Billy Honsal: … Humboldt State University, and I worked various positions.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: Police officer, sergeant, uh, DA investigator.

Uh, I, I landed back at Humboldt State as a

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: You know Packer?

Billy Honsal: I know John Packer very well.

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Billy Honsal: Yeah, I went to the police academy with him back

Scott Hammond: There we go.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: He was just at, at my son's in, uh,

Billy Honsal: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: His first photo was fish, like, within hours.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. Crazy. John's an awesome guy.

Scott Hammond: Great guy.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Uh, so we, um, uh, so … And it's back in 2013, I was approached by Mike Downey. And Mike Downey's the previous sheriff, and, um, and he just said, "Hey, you're a lieutenant. I'm opening this, this under sheriff position up."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: Under sheriff is the second in command of the sheriff's

And he said, "Hey, if you're interested, please apply."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And that was the conversation we had.

I'm like, "Huh." You know, that was kinda nice.

You know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … Mike Downey's always been a respectful,

I didn't know him-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Billy Honsal: … other than, you know, my little interaction I had with the DA's

kind of, you know, around, but I didn't really have a relationship

And-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and, uh, it was really encouraging that he, you know,

Scott Hammond: Solid, solid guy.

Billy Honsal: Solid guy. Absolutely. Just-

Scott Hammond: Amazing

Billy Honsal: … yeah. Great guy. And so I just-

Scott Hammond: And Mike just made his sons a pastor, right, at the neighborhood church,

they are.

Billy Honsal: Yes. He's g- He's got … You know, he's got five kids.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Five, six kids.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: I forget which, but-

Scott Hammond: Oh, they're great

Billy Honsal: … but they're all great. And, and I think, um, four live

here in the county.

Scott Hammond: Oh, is it? Okay.

Billy Honsal: He has, only has one that lives out.

And, uh, anyway, great, great guy.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: And, and so I was, like, kinda shocked, but, you know,

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And I go, "You know what? Why not?" So I'm all in.

So I spent-

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: You know-

Scott Hammond: Good for you

Billy Honsal: … I put my application in, and I started talking to people.

I went to the jail, educated myself about what the jail

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: Uh, about Office of Emergency Services,

office, and, and then I, I interviewed.

And-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Billy Honsal: … um, and he offered me the job.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: And he said, "You know what?"

He said, "I, I need someone to come in, and I need someone to be a catalyst for some change that needs to happen within the agency."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: And, and so me and him set on a path, and said,

need to do?"

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: And we went out, and we started, you know,

within-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … the department. And, uh, and w-

into, you know, going in the right direction.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Billy Honsal: And he… Something that he was very proud of.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, and then in, in the three years that I was there,

um, he decided that he was going to retire.

Scott Hammond: [clears throat]

Billy Honsal: And, uh, so in 2017, he retired-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and decided that, um, you know, that he could turn the,

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, I was very lucky.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: In, I think it was April 2017, the board of supervisors voted

unanimously to i- put me as interim sheriff-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … at that point in time. I ran in 2018, and then in 2022, I

ran unopposed-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … um, as sheriff, and here I am today.

Scott Hammond: Hey, way to get elected.

Billy Honsal: I know. I was like, "You know what?"

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: Going through an election process, obviously, you know,

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Billy Honsal: Um, but, you know, having to raise money and having to do

campaign accounting and all that stuff-

Scott Hammond: Totally different, yeah

Billy Honsal: … totally different.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: But, um, but I learned a lot. And even though I didn't have an opponent,

was, it was really nice.

Scott Hammond: So you had to shift this, this machine into something and rein-

maybe not reinvent, but, but re- retool it.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So, uh, my question, uh, is, of all the stuff

that you're over, um, can we talk about … I, I mean, there's probably 10 things, right?

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: The coroner's office,

the substations.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: The … Don't you do search and rescue?

Billy Honsal: We do search and rescue. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I, I-

Billy Honsal: I can go over all the things we do

Scott Hammond: … would mar- marijuana be a d-

Billy Honsal: Yes

Scott Hammond: … kind of its be a d- department?

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: You wanna talk about maybe 30 seconds or a minute on each of-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … the things that you oversee and-

Billy Honsal: For sure

Scott Hammond: … and maybe-

Billy Honsal: So when people think about the sheriff's office,

sheriffs working the street in the county, and that's just one of the things that we do. So when you call 911 in-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … Willow Creek, you're gonna get the sheriff's office out

be invest- investigating that crime.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: That's part of what we do. But legally, the only thing

do under the law-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Billy Honsal: … is maintain a jail, [clears throat] uh, to staff the courts

for s- court security, and have an investigative element within agency to investigate crime.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: That's it, as far as what we're required to do.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Uh,

but our responsibilities are a lot, and, and immense. So patrol operations, that's what everyone's familiar with. Running a jail-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … is a huge deal.

Scott Hammond: Huge one, right? Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Huge one. It takes up half of my staff-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Billy Honsal: … takes up half of my budget.

square feet.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: We have, uh, anywhere from 20, you know, 20,

20 correctional deputies that are working on the floor.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Uh, we have a classification unit.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: All these things within the jail to support, um, this jail

population, which is, um, becoming more and more diverse

more, um, diverse meaning difficulties with-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … mental illness, drug addiction-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … uh, all those things that, um, that we are seeing on the street,

magnified in the jail.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: So that's just o- another aspect. Uh, courts and civil.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: So we run all the court security. We run a civil division.

So if you wanna evict someone, and we get those paperwork,

paperwork-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and then evict people from, from their,

Uh, we run our s- our special services unit-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Billy Honsal: … which is our search and rescue unit.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Billy Honsal: We're required to do, um, you know, uh, patrol all the

waterways within the county.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: So that's the bay.

Scott Hammond: So the bay.

Billy Honsal: You know, up to three miles out, um, all the rivers-

Scott Hammond: Let me show everybody the bay real quick.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: The bay is-Right here

Billy Honsal: Right there.

Scott Hammond: It's really big.

Billy Honsal: Very nice.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I have… [laughs] It's my only,

And up here is, uh… Anyway, here's the reservation, and-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … here's Eureka. Anyway, sorry about that.

Billy Honsal: Very nice.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: So there it is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: The bay and, uh, and all the, the wild rivers that we have here in the

county.

Scott Hammond: Psh.

Billy Honsal: And, um, and so that's part of our job.

If there's a boating accident, we have to investigate it and,

Scott Hammond: Some of those are really remote places.

Billy Honsal: They're remote places.

Scott Hammond: They're remote. Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah, exactly. 'Cause you think about it,

we, we can't access unless it's by the river-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … or by air.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, so we have to launch a boat.

Scott Hammond: You guys have all kinds of other ATVs and tools and toys-

Billy Honsal: Yep

Scott Hammond: … and stuff like that.

Billy Honsal: All the stuff.

Scott Hammond: Horses.

Billy Honsal: Horses. We have a sheriff's posse-

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: … that has a amount of units-

Scott Hammond: Is that volunteer?

Billy Honsal: It is a volunteer unit.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: But we have several deputies that are a part of that unit that also,

contribute. But we have a boating unit, we have a livestock deputy that's-

Scott Hammond: [clears throat]

Billy Honsal: … you know, 'cause cattle is one of the biggest industries here in

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, and so we wanna make sure that that

investigated. We have, you know, cattle theft-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … cattle loss, and, uh, and issues with cattle,

assigned to that. We have off-highway vehicle deputy.

It's a-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Billy Honsal: … grant position, so all the dunes, all the, all the

waterways-

Scott Hammond: Right. Right

Billy Honsal: … that kind of road… You know, the, um,

all the stream beds, that kind of stuff, they're, they're gonna to, you know, patrol those areas.

Scott Hammond: Have a little two-by-two or whatever.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What are they called? Like-

Billy Honsal: Side-by-sides.

Scott Hammond: Side-by-side.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Billy Honsal: Have a side-by-side, have ATVs,

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: Uh-

Scott Hammond: You'd have to-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … up in the dunes. Like, where… Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. We have, uh… We're in charge of the drug task force.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: So all the big fentanyl busts that we hear about-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … the sheriff's office is in charge.

It's a multi-agency task force, so we bring in-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Billy Honsal: … other, other departments in on that. And, uh,

We run our marijuana enforcement team.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, and we're really the model of how we run

throughout the country.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Billy Honsal: People, people have, have modeled their marijuana units based

Scott Hammond: They grow… Wait a minute. They grow marijuana here?

Billy Honsal: Well, it's something that, that, uh, yeah,

Scott Hammond: It's where it started.

Billy Honsal: Wherever you go-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … you say, "Oh, Humboldt."

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Billy Honsal: Got a 420.

Scott Hammond: Funny, funny story. I was with my father-in-law 20 years ago at,

the Hollywood Bowl. We were seeing a symphony. And I, I walked down at halftime 'cause they have And I go, "Hey, what are the chances we could get down into know, just thought I'd ask.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I had a Cox Cable Humboldt. And he goes, "Oh, Humboldt,

I go, "Humboldt." He goes, "Come on in."

[laughs]

Billy Honsal: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: Thought he might have been fishing for a tip or something.

Yeah, it's true. It's, it's, it's funny how we get down. So cannabis elephant in the room. Uh, do you wanna go there real quick?

I mean-

Billy Honsal: I can talk cannabis all day long.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I, I don't, I don't know if…

Maybe you want to, but the, the, the one place that I think I first saw you was on Murder Mountain.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you were… That was multi- multi-part series on

Discovery? I watched-

Billy Honsal: It's on Netflix.

Scott Hammond: It was on Netflix. Yeah, it started with one of the cable channels,

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Right?

Billy Honsal: It did.

Scott Hammond: Maybe it was a Netflix original.

Billy Honsal: It… Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: There… I think they did market it to one of the,

Or no, one of the, one of the stations, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: But it was also Netflix.

Scott Hammond: So there was, like, a couple of… several episodes, right?

Billy Honsal: Six episodes I think.

Scott Hammond: Were you in all of them?

Billy Honsal: Uh, I, I don't know. I've never seen it.

Scott Hammond: Okay. You haven't wa- Okay, good.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Billy Honsal: My wife's seen it. I just don't, I don't care to watch it.

I, I-

Scott Hammond: That's fine.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. [laughs]

Scott Hammond: National TV.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I was on two seconds at the end of the, uh, uh,

down at, uh, Ramones.

Billy Honsal: You were?

Scott Hammond: Was it Ramones? It was, uh,

Cafe Nuener.

Billy Honsal: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I'm taking a bite of a sandwich. The last second,

And I go, "Oh, I was on TV once."

Billy Honsal: There you go.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: That's all right.

Scott Hammond: So-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … uh, I don't know. K- K-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … state of, state of the union with cannabis right

going broke.

Billy Honsal: You wanna think that.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Billy Honsal: That's what some people are telling you or, or trying to explain,

people, plenty of people still making money on

Scott Hammond: Oh, sure.

Billy Honsal: Uh, but it has, it has changed drastically, and I'm very,

about that.

Scott Hammond: And that's mostly the bootleg people making money-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … necessarily?

Billy Honsal: Well, no. There's still people in the legal market

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Billy Honsal: But it is, it is a, it is an agricultural product.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: The price is coming down. You have to limit your, your overhead,

business.

Scott Hammond: Like a business.

Billy Honsal: Ab- absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Have to figure it out.

Billy Honsal: And so if you own your land, if you, you know, have…

if you do your own labor-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … then you might, you know, create more profit for yourself.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And so there's still people that are making money.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: It's a commodity, you know, up and down, and so-

Scott Hammond: It's capitalism, man

Billy Honsal: … it's what it's about.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And, and, uh, so there are people that are making it.

Uh, what I'm very, very happy about is a lot of the bad actors, that were here-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … they weren't local.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: They bought land. They were trying to make as much money as they

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: They were damaging the environment. Uh, a lot of those people

Scott Hammond: That's great.

Billy Honsal: Thankful for that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … because you go out Highway 36, 299, 96,

certain areas of southern Humboldt-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and people have abandoned their grows.

You see hoop houses that don't have-

Scott Hammond: Sweet

Billy Honsal: … you know, tarps on them.

Scott Hammond: They're gone.

Billy Honsal: And they're gone.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And property values are, are, are falling out there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: You can afford a 40-acre parcel now-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … for that's not a million dollars, and-

Scott Hammond: Remember the Bulgarians had a bad rap.

Billy Honsal: Uh-

Scott Hammond: You Bu- you have Bulgarians out there.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um-

Billy Honsal: Yeah. So there's still-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … there's still organized crime here in the

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: There is still bad actors here. We're still finding them.

Uh-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Billy Honsal: … we still get tips on them. We had a big one out Highway 36.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: It, um, uh, 15 to 20 huge

indoor, um-

Scott Hammond: Really?

Billy Honsal: … you know, houses and structures that people

And, and, uh, you know, it's, it's just kinda… My marijuana team-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Billy Honsal: … stays busy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: I, I remember Sheriff Downey said he had

[laughs] So he may… I don't know if he made up numbers, but the point had a f- he could, he could investigate and, uh, control a

fraction.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. Yeah, 1%.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: It's basically what it was.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: But, you know, people say, "Then why do you even t-

only… if it's that narrow, if it's, it's that…" You know?

Scott Hammond: Good question.

Billy Honsal: "Why are you doing it?"

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Why?

Billy Honsal: So because, because the fear of us out there doing

does-… does send people, you know, a chance that they, they, you know, they will get caught.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And so maybe they won't do as much.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: Or maybe they're gonna try and hide it,

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: There's other areas in the state that don't have marijuana teams.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: And it's-

Scott Hammond: They're lost

Billy Honsal: … being grown everywhere.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And it's out of control.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: And I'm thankful because we have a great code enforcement unit-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … here in the county, as well as, uh, our sheriff's enforcement

team. So-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … um, so it works really well. Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And it's no small thing to, to kill

the plants and the animals and the water, the waterways around to grow. It's not, that's not… How is that okay on any level?

Billy Honsal: Right.

Scott Hammond: And, um,

I, I think, I think of the human damage, I mean, that's another topic, but I think of that environmental damage, and it's like, how, how could, who could be behind that damage-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in terms of g- Yeah. Well, okay, we're not.

Billy Honsal: So that's one thing that we did over the last four years

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … of what's actually happening out there.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: And we painted the picture of what these people are doing to our county.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Billy Honsal: And we said, "Hey, listen, if you support marijuana, that's great,

you what marijuana is doing to our county."

Scott Hammond: Let me show you. I have photos.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Here they are.

Billy Honsal: These are photos. These are the environmental violations.

And we're bringing all the regulators in because we recognize that we weren't getting sentences. You know-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … people weren't going to jail for this.

But what we wanted to hammer them with were fines.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: So if this was a business, then what we can do is say-

Scott Hammond: You can hammer it

Billy Honsal: … "Okay, listen."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: "If you're gonna do this and you're worried about your bottom line-

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: … then we're gonna hammer you with all these

Scott Hammond: So they-

Billy Honsal: So we bring CAL FIRE in when they do an illegal timber conversion.

Scott Hammond: Fish and Game.

Billy Honsal: And so Fish and Wildlife is-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … a huge deal when they're talking about stream

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Billy Honsal: … um, and, and blocking-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Billy Honsal: … the streams. We have the, the, the Water Board,

water or they're stealing water or create a well

create.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: We have them using certain pesticides that are getting into the

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: Fish and Wildlife, you're gonna fine them for that.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: And then, um, you know, we have

biologists that we bring on board. We also have code enforcement. Our code enforcement unit-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Billy Honsal: … is a part of our teams.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: They're out there looking for illegal structures, illegal grading.

Scott Hammond: And they can write fines.

Billy Honsal: They can write huge fines.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: So we started publishing it, that they-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Billy Honsal: … had 15 of these environmental fines up to

$500,000 that they're gonna have to pay.

Scott Hammond: Is there any reason why we wouldn't?

Billy Honsal: Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Why you wouldn't. Uh, so in effect then, you've given

agencies work. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: We have.

Scott Hammond: Created jobs. [laughs] Cr- created some, some purpose

in their lives to-

Billy Honsal: Yes

Scott Hammond: … and, and a docket of work to do for years.

Billy Honsal: Yes. We have.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Okay.

Billy Honsal: And then we also have created other industry.

So because we've done these kind of, um, you know, environmental violations, that they have to do remediation work.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Billy Honsal: And so there's people out there that are paid to remediate the

properties.

Scott Hammond: Make it, make it all good.

Billy Honsal: Taking down the structure, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yep

Billy Honsal: … uh, clearing, uh, the different areas, all the hoop houses,

the illegal grading, illegal roadways.

Scott Hammond: And the waterways, yeah.

Billy Honsal: And the waterways, and do all that restoration work, which

money.

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.

Billy Honsal: People that have legitimate businesses have made some pretty good

Scott Hammond: Interesting

Billy Honsal: … because of our, you know, enforcement of illegal marijuana.

Scott Hammond: So, so you're, you're over so many things.

Um, and so y- I get, I get busted. I have 17 Jags. I have a whole assortment of, uh, horses and, and, and, uh, a thousand million dollars in a mattress. How do you… Does that help fund the county or y'all? Where does that money go once you guys confiscate and-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Do you have to give it back?

Billy Honsal: So it's a civil process.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: It's separate than the criminal process.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: The District Attorney's office has to coordinate this civil

process through the courts. So how this works is if we get to a marijuana scene where we know it's illegal, um, and we see assets associated to the illegal industry, we'll call up the DA and say, "DA Eades, this is what we have."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: "Uh, we wanna take this asset forfeiture.

Would you process this?"

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: And she would then order us to take that, and we would,

and then we would document it, send her all the details, civil process. So then the burden shifts in

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: Um, you know, when you're, when you're going through trial,

prosecution-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … to, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt,

hearing comes up, they have to prove they got the money by

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Billy Honsal: A lot of people say, "Oh, no, no, that, that $100,000, that

so and so-

Scott Hammond: Look at that

Billy Honsal: … or that was an inheritance.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, right.

Billy Honsal: Or, "I just saved up money to buy a car.

It's been years." And then, "Well, you reported on your taxes builder and you only made $10,000 over the last 10 years."

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: So, you know.

Scott Hammond: What's wrong here?

Billy Honsal: Yeah. What's wrong here?

Scott Hammond: In fact, we're gonna levy more taxes at you.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Which

I- sounds like justice to me and fairness, but, um.

Billy Honsal: So once that money is seized, then it comes, um, that

it was rightfully seized-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … then it gets dispersed, you know, through the county,

District Attorney's office.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And then whoever agencies helped out,

Scott Hammond: So are there real estate assets, too?

Billy Honsal: Real estate is a little more difficult. We can seize that.

We tend to not, because we have to maintain those

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: We have to do all these other things, and we may or may not get it.

Judge may order it back, especially if someone's living there-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Billy Honsal: … oftentimes. But the federal government,

houses. They love to seize cars.

Scott Hammond: They love that, right?

Billy Honsal: Oh, they love it.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Billy Honsal: And so they're out there, and if they have a federal nexus to the

case that they're investigating-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Billy Honsal: … they will seize all properties, houses,

They have whole units that are doing that.

Scott Hammond: So real-

Billy Honsal: We just don't have the resources.

Scott Hammond: So real quick, a federal nexus would be like, um,

this guy's a federally wanted bad guy, gal.

Billy Honsal: Let's just say that, um-

Scott Hammond: And they're part of the grow and-

Billy Honsal: Just total hypothetical.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Not that this ever happens, but-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Billy Honsal: … someone's growing here in, in Humboldt County,

say, New York. And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, total hypothetical

Billy Honsal: … hypothetical.

Scott Hammond: You guys in Iowa.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Uh.

Billy Honsal: And yeah.So they have, you know, if they intercept that,

um, and the feds decide to take the case-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … whether it's DEA, FBI, whoever else-

Scott Hammond: It's federal

Billy Honsal: … IRS, then they're gonna take that-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Billy Honsal: … seize it, and then come back and,

Scott Hammond: Wow. As in seizing assets.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow. That, I think that would be the fear of God in some

You go, "If it doesn't go well for me, I could lose it all."

Billy Honsal: You could lose it all, absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Billy Honsal: That's why, you know, f- six years ago, whenever it was-

Scott Hammond: [clears throat]

Billy Honsal: … um, you know, when people, we had a avenue f- for legalization.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Out of the 10,000 illegal grows out there, only 2,000 decided

want to go through the process.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And by that time it all shook out, only about 1,000 of them

got a, uh-

Scott Hammond: Is that low to you? D- is that unexpected?

Billy Honsal: I, I would say so.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Billy Honsal: I thought a lot more were gonna be coming in.

Scott Hammond: Coming forward.

Billy Honsal: But still, I mean, 1,000's a pretty good number.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And,

you know, but Humboldt County could supply all of marijuana it needs.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: Uh, but now we have Santa Barbara, Monterey-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Billy Honsal: … um, that are opened up huge greenhouses.

Scott Hammond: Sierras.

Billy Honsal: And-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … yeah, they're growing it everywhere.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's really an interesting, um, uh, issue. Moving on to the exciting new In terms of your department, um, and it, and associations and other agencies, who are your top three folks that you do business with, that you would inter- inter- interface with on a weekly and monthly?

Billy Honsal: Yeah. Uh, Eureka Police Department is,

Department-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … the California Highway Patrol,

Those are the-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … those are the three agencies that we're-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … we're interacting with the most.

Uh, but we're, we're always, you know, helping out Arcata-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … Fortuna, Rio Dell, Ferndale.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, you know, we have, we have a great team here in the county.

The, all the law enforcement chiefs meet once a

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Billy Honsal: We talk about what's going on with the departments,

other. And the one thing that we got going too is, uh, every Wednesday m- every Wednesday our investigators meet. So all of our detectives-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Billy Honsal: … throughout the county meet,

trends.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: Because, you know, criminals don't stay in one geographic

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: They tend to go across, and, and the, the people that are stealing

in Cutten are also stealing in Eureka-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … uh, stealing in Bayside, Arcata.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: So who's, who's doing this?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Who are they?

Scott Hammond: Where do they live?

Billy Honsal: What are the vehicle description?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And, and so they start talking,

with all those people-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … 500 years of experience.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: So use that experience to try and help solve crime.

Scott Hammond: Got it. So you saw the yellow Ford truck too,

Billy Honsal: Right. I did.

Scott Hammond: Who, wow, what?

Billy Honsal: Who drives the yellow Ford truck-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Billy Honsal: … we say, "Oh, that's Jim Bob, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: He lives in-

Billy Honsal: … he lives here

Scott Hammond: … he lives in Eureka. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And so it's easy to note.

Scott Hammond: We know where he lives.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, that's great. So, uh, uh, I always do something

special as part of the show.

Billy Honsal: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And it, it starts with, uh, this. [bell dings]

Billy Honsal: Is that the lightning round?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, the lightning round c- starts.

So couple of things that you like about Humboldt,

Uh-

Billy Honsal: Trees.

Scott Hammond: Trees.

Billy Honsal: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Uh, uh, let's go free flow. What do you like about Humboldt?

Billy Honsal: I love the trees, I love the environment, I love the people,

I love, love our climate.

Scott Hammond: Nice. Yeah, me too. We called that the envy of Redding-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … last time, and I, I agree with that. What's your, uh …

So you can go anywhere tonight on, on, on this Visa card I throw to you. Uh, where do you, where do you guys go to eat?

Billy Honsal: Uh, we love teppanyaki.

Scott Hammond: Oh, nice.

Billy Honsal: Bay Front.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: Yes. We love, love sushi, teppanyaki, and-

Scott Hammond: Haven't been there for a while.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's delicious.

Billy Honsal: Oh, yeah. The kids love it, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, the whole show.

Billy Honsal: Oh, the whole show. They, they dig it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: So birthday parties, that's, that's the spot to go to.

Scott Hammond: For those of you, uh, in Southern Cal- Benihana.

Billy Honsal: That's right.

Scott Hammond: They used to do, do all this stuff. So how about coffee?

Law enforcement, you love coffee.

Billy Honsal: I love coffee. You know what I really love?

I've been there, like, nonstop now, is Dick Taylor's.

Scott Hammond: Dick Taylor's, yeah.

Billy Honsal: Dick Taylor's Chocolates, downtown.

Scott Hammond: Oh, do you mean-

Billy Honsal: Brand new facility

Scott Hammond: … Dick Taylor's?

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you mean this one?

Billy Honsal: Yeah, that one.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: Gosh, not only… I mean, those guys-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … are so talented, and-

Scott Hammond: They're great

Billy Honsal: … and I love them, and they're great community people, but-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … I had never been in their new facility,

I just happened to be walking by, and I'm like, "Oh, yeah."

Scott Hammond: Oh, their coffee is good, yeah.

Billy Honsal: So I go in there, and it's like, "Oh my gosh."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And then they have these, these treats every day.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: You know? Like new ones.

Scott Hammond: Fresh baked.

Billy Honsal: Fresh baked, you know?

Scott Hammond: Oh. [laughs]

Billy Honsal: You know, cookies, brownies, and they…

And I was like, I had to try something new every time I've

Scott Hammond: Amazing.

Billy Honsal: And it's just been, it's been awesome.

Scott Hammond: So their drinking chocolate's killer.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: You don't g- I mean, they don't give you a very big one-

Billy Honsal: No

Scott Hammond: … 'cause you don't need one.

Billy Honsal: No.

Scott Hammond: And it is, um… It's not hot chocolate.

It's not watery stuff that your parents drank.

It's-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … actual chocolate.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And it's like,

you get about a quarter of the way through and you go, "I, this is gonna be an okay

day."

Billy Honsal: Exactly.

Scott Hammond: "I feel actually pretty good right now."

Billy Honsal: You better drink it in the morning 'cause you're gonna be buzzing all

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, it's, uh, it's delicious, so.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: My wife, uh, when she goes to Costco, Joanie will go,

Dick Taylor's.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And she gets the fudge pops, which are really good.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: So we, we always bring those up to Medford to the

delicious.

Billy Honsal: It's great.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, how about this? Uh, fa- law enforcement, no offense.

Billy Honsal: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Favorite donut?

Billy Honsal: You know Happy Donuts?

Scott Hammond: Happy, okay. She's great.

Billy Honsal: Happy Donuts. She's great.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. So she, you gotta, gotta go get a Happy Donuts.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And I, I like the old-fashioned.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Maple old-fashioned is probably one of my favorites.

Scott Hammond: And she's super sweet-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and supportive of law enforcement.

Billy Honsal: She is, yep.

Scott Hammond: That's great.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Natalie, is that her name?

Billy Honsal: Yep.

Scott Hammond: I think, yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. She's sweet.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, she's great. Yeah. And, and Dustin and, and, uh, Adam are great.

They're just Huckleberry Flint and-

Billy Honsal: Yes

Scott Hammond: … everywhere. Do you know those guys personally?

Billy Honsal: I, you know what? I, I have met them over the years.

You know, we've never hung out, but-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … uh, but we'll, you know, we'll say hi and that kind of thing.

Scott Hammond: Super-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … super great guys.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Just saw them perform at the Folklife Festival in Blue Lake.

Billy Honsal: They, they performed for Teen Challenge last

Scott Hammond: That's right, yeah

Billy Honsal: … dinner.

Scott Hammond: Saw them.

Billy Honsal: Awesome.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, and then for Sarah Bareilles.

Scott Hammond: That's right, they opened for Sarah.

Billy Honsal: Ah. I mean, they're awesome music.

Their energy, music, the talent that those guys have-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … I'm like,

"How come I can't have just some of that talent?"

Scott Hammond: Just a little of that.

Billy Honsal: I mean, they can, they can do chocolate, they can, like,

then-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Billy Honsal: … and then play music?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Sing? It's crazy.

Scott Hammond: And they, they seem to have some favor in the

just-Wonderful

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: And they just built 20,000 foot, square foot chocolate factory.

Billy Honsal: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And I think they wanna expand. I think they wanna-

Scott Hammond: Oh, I think they will, yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I think they'll, they'll… And they seem to win chocolate awards all

I think Adam's our next guest, in fact.

Billy Honsal: Oh, really?

Scott Hammond: Come on in, Ad. No, [laughs] I'm kidding.

Billy Honsal: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: No, I think he's coming in next week, so-

Billy Honsal: He better bring chocolate.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, he better bring a lot of chocolate. Nick,

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: He's good, yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Of course he does.

Billy Honsal: For sure.

Scott Hammond: So, so, uh, favorite,

um, [lips smack] um, if you were gonna find a trail to hike,

Billy Honsal: I love Bull Creek.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, that whole area, it's just so beautiful.

I just can't, um, you know, I, I never can get over just how beautiful it

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Billy Honsal: The smells, the sights, and then being there next to the creek,

the trail.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: It's just, it's nice.

Scott Hammond: It's amazing. So, um-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … how do you personally give back to

uh, policing?

Billy Honsal: I'm a soccer coach.

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.

Billy Honsal: So I've coached all my kids through.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: I'm now a U8 girls soccer coach for my daughter.

Scott Hammond: Nice. Here in Eureka or Fortuna?

Billy Honsal: Here in Fortuna.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, it's a, uh, it's an honor to do that.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Billy Honsal: Also, I'm on the board for Redwood Teen

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Billy Honsal: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yep, big fan

Billy Honsal: … participate there and try and help out

possibly can.

Scott Hammond: Great. They're great guys.

Billy Honsal: Yeah. And, uh-

Scott Hammond: With great leadership.

Billy Honsal: Yes, great leadership-

Scott Hammond: Yep

Billy Honsal: … and actually making an impact,

Scott Hammond: Speaking of which, three things that you're proud of.

Billy Honsal: Uh, uh, my marriage.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Billy Honsal: Uh, my children.

Scott Hammond: You married up.

Billy Honsal: I married up, yes.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: So say we all.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Joanie. Love, love ya.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: [laughs]

Billy Honsal: And then, uh, I mean, I love my friends,

I love the sheriff's office.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Billy Honsal: Uh, we have so many great things going,

office.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: And our, uh, the people that I work with are amazing.

Scott Hammond: Nice. Did you know Steve Knight before he

Billy Honsal: Yes, of course, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you run, you run the, the, the animal shelter too.

Billy Honsal: Yes, yes.

Scott Hammond: Gosh, you-

Billy Honsal: Animal shelter

Scott Hammond: … how do you run all that? It's like,

Billy Honsal: It's, exactly.

Scott Hammond: Thing.

Billy Honsal: I have a great team. That's the only way it happens, is

that helps manage all of that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And so we have Andra Hale up at the shelter.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: She's, uh, the manager up there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: She does a fantastic job, because,

I mean, we have kittens and cats and dogs and all sorts of animals in there every day.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And she finds a way to shuffle to make that space work,

probably twice the size that it is.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: We should have twice the staff that it is, and she makes it work.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Billy Honsal: Because also, community volunteers.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Billy Honsal: People volunteer up there every day.

I'm so thankful for those people, 'cause they're out there walking the dogs-

Scott Hammond: That's cool

Billy Honsal: … they're looking for adoption.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Billy Honsal: Um, and then they're, they're,

they are a- we're able to run that facility because of the volunteers.

Scott Hammond: And you got the SWAT team, uh, the-

Billy Honsal: SWAT team too

Scott Hammond: … the, uh, the SWAT-

Billy Honsal: Crisis negotiation team

Scott Hammond: … but then there's the, who's the other guys that, the volunteers,

Billy Honsal: Oh, s- uh, they're the, uh-

Scott Hammond: SWAP.

Billy Honsal: No, no-

Scott Hammond: The SWAP?

Billy Honsal: … not the SWAP program. It's the-

Scott Hammond: It's the other one.

Billy Honsal: [laughs] Gosh. Uh, [laughs] it is the,

um-

Scott Hammond: They drive around sheriff cars and-

Billy Honsal: SCOPE program

Scott Hammond: … SCOPE, that's right.

Billy Honsal: Sheriff Citizens On Patrol.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: I'm sorry that I couldn't remember that.

Scott Hammond: Mostly seniors.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's great.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Part of-

Billy Honsal: They're not Senior Citizens On Patrol. Some people might mistake that.

It's Sheriff Citizens On Patrol.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. They're big in McKinleyville.

Billy Honsal: They are.

Scott Hammond: Actually haven't seen one for a while, but yeah, they, they are.

So what, what do you see for the future of

Billy Honsal: I think we're in a transition-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … Scott. Uh, when you seriously think about Humboldt

making some really smart decisions on where we wanna be.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Billy Honsal: There's a lot of great ideas coming forward, but in reality,

housing, we don't have the infrastructure to really that's happening.

Scott Hammond: Right, right.

Billy Honsal: And so we really have to-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … take this seriously. We can't just look at low-income housing

a solution to all of our problems. We have to look at housing in general, workforce housing-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and look at ways that we can expand

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: We are not going to survive here-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … um, because already the labor, the

workforce has moving or moving out of here.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Billy Honsal: We don't have enough talent-

Scott Hammond: Terrible

Billy Honsal: … to support the existing jobs.

offshore wind, when we bring this fiber line that's gonna centers, when-

Scott Hammond: Where are they gonna live?

Billy Honsal: Where are they gonna live? How are we gonna support it-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … when Cal Poly expands another-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … you know, 5,000 students,

where are they gonna get that support?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: All the, all Cal Poly's gonna do,

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … they're gonna pay higher wages-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and all the other people within the county

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And it's gonna deprive all the services.

We can't keep doctors here-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … because there's no place for them to live.

Scott Hammond: Good point.

Billy Honsal: And, and, and also they look at, you know,

people, our seniors that wanna-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … spend their time here,

look at healthcare. If we don't have stable healthcare-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … here, then people are gonna move out to where there

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: So we have to get serious about this, and we have to s-

of these minor things-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and start looking at housing,

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Find a way to incentivize it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: There are a lot of lots that can be developed right now-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … but contractors say they just don't

They don't, they're not-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … gonna make enough money right now.

So how can we incentivize these contractors to build on lots that we have-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … and then also incentivize things like the

out in Cutten. You know, it shouldn't cost that much to develop out here.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: It's, it's… And we all have to-

Scott Hammond: Is that a subdivision?

Billy Honsal: … find a way to make it work.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: You know, I can't, I don't remember how many different homes

but it's those, those kind of projects-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … that the county has to get behind.

And yes, it's gonna be an inconvenience, yes, there's gonna be more traffic.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: But if we want our county to survive,

work.

Scott Hammond: Sure. Well said. I think, um, Nancy Olsen said it.

She goes that all of that, plus the, the clock is ticking right now. And, and it's ticking quick.

Billy Honsal: We should've been doing this two years ago.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: You know? During the-

Scott Hammond: Or 20, yeah.

Billy Honsal: Yeah, well, 20 obviously, but-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … but yeah, just thinking, "Why?

Why is it taking so long?"

Scott Hammond: I like what you said about the,

That's almost a, this is a job for Steve Stromberg.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That he, that you could create-Um, I don't know.

There must be some progressive idea they do in Europe or back east that is dormitory-ish or-

Billy Honsal: Right

Scott Hammond: … cabin something, something somewhere, but-

Billy Honsal: But it's more than that. It's, it's, you know, maybe just smaller homes.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Uh, you know, three bedroom, two bath house-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … somewhere where someone can have a family-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and their own little spot.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: But when you talk about housing too, it needs to be, you know,

the small, you know, condos, townhomes, s- you know, one, two bedroom homes-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … all the way up to the million dollar

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: 'Cause everyone wants to upgrade their house from time to time-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Billy Honsal: … right?

Scott Hammond: You're right.

Billy Honsal: And so everyone wants to go higher.

Scott Hammond: There's this bell curve of homes that we-

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: So we have to continue to do that. We have to build the spectrum,

real- you know, we have to realize that-

Scott Hammond: Right

Billy Honsal: … and start develop- If we do this for our county,

exponential growth-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … here. And people might say, "Well,

county?" Because it's gonna help our county thrive.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: If we don't, we're gonna see an economic depression

gonna be-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … in here for years.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Billy Honsal: And we're not gonna have any thriving businesses because we don't have

to support anything.

Scott Hammond: Right. People will come into town and go,

Billy Honsal: Right.

Scott Hammond: So I just did some math in my head. So if, if there is no hous-

There's already a housing s- shortage, and 5,000 jobs come in and 5,000 students or whatever the number is.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And they have money, and they can figure out how to get

At some point, the, the, the lowest on the food chain are gonna be homeless.

Billy Honsal: Right.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause of, 'cause escalation of rents and inflation,

So it occurs to me that that's gonna be real troublesome for,

police work.

Billy Honsal: It is.

Scott Hammond: You know, that, that sooner or later,

the river. That doesn't work. And-

Billy Honsal: Right

Scott Hammond: … um-

Billy Honsal: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … scary scenario.

Billy Honsal: It is a scary scenario 'cause when I'm trying to recruit young officers

"Yeah, come up here. We, we pay a pretty good wage," around and go, "Well, I can afford something in Kern County."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: You know, well, it's Bakersfield, but still,

Scott Hammond: You can get a house.

Billy Honsal: I can get a house.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: I can, you know, uh… And then I have money to spend.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: You know? You have people now that are, that

$350,000 fixer-uppers-

Scott Hammond: Right. Right [laughs]

Billy Honsal: … and, you know, with minimal down payments,

3,000 a month for a house payment. You're going, "How can you afford this?"

Scott Hammond: On one income, it's just, yeah, impossible.

Billy Honsal: Impossible.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So, uh, real quick before we go, um, what do you,

uh, what do you wanna be remembered for?

Billy Honsal: Oh, man. I want people to remember me to be, um, or

to be a caring person.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Billy Honsal: Um, you know, I believe that I'm put here in this position by

God.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Um, and, uh, I don't, I don't think there's any other

I wanna be remembered as a, a godly man, um, that did his best to trust in the Lord-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and, um, and to do, uh, to do His work.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And He put me in this position to be sheriff. I, I believe that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And I'm just trying to follow Him and His direction every day.

And-

Scott Hammond: Great

Billy Honsal: … uh, so,

uh, I would love to be remembered that way.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Billy Honsal: And, um, so… But it's, you know,

uh, it's…

Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Took your stewardship seriously.

Billy Honsal: I'm trying.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: You know? Doesn't mean that I'm perfect. I'm far from that.

Scott Hammond: No, no.

Billy Honsal: But it just means that, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I don't know of anybody that is. Um, so, uh, last two questions,

sometimes I save these for last.

Billy Honsal: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Who are you?

And, and what do you want?

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it l- l… Kind of similar to what I-

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But who, who's, who is Billy Honsal?

Billy Honsal: You know, uh,

it's something, you know, that's, uh, you know, it's a good, It's something we should ask ourselves every day, you know. Who are you? What do you wanna be?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, you know, I wanna say that I'm a kind person

that is, um, is, is people-focused-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and, uh, and living outside of myself.

Scott Hammond: Good. Good answer.

Billy Honsal: Um, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna give back, and I wanna to,

to not, to not worry about me-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … and worry about others. Uh, you know, my family really is

everything.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: Um, and I could really get emotional thinking

Scott Hammond: Sure

Billy Honsal: … you know, how much I love them,

shelter them, and, and I wanna h- have a, a community that, that, that they-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Billy Honsal: … stay in and grow in and, and get married and have kids.

And, and, uh, and I, I w- really want to see that for my family.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, so that's,

that's just on my mind all the time.

Scott Hammond: That's part of who you are and what you want.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: And I, yeah. I want, I want a safe community.

I want a thriving community-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Billy Honsal: … here in Humboldt County, and I want people to get back to

being united and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … caring for one another and,

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Billy Honsal: Not being selfish, giving back.

Scott Hammond: Right on.

Billy Honsal: And, uh, and that's something you just don't see

Scott Hammond: I think we all, all really want that and, uh, are gonna

commit with you to work on that.

Billy Honsal: Good.

Scott Hammond: Good. So on your, on your tombstone, what does it say?

What's your, what's your phrase?

Billy Honsal: Oh, what's my phrase? Uh-

Scott Hammond: What's my phrase?

Billy Honsal: It's not I did it my way.

Scott Hammond: Okay. It's not [laughs]

Billy Honsal: [laughs]

Scott Hammond: I know what it's not.

I had a lady answer. She goes, "I'm being, I'm being cremated and just buried under a tree. There is no tombstone."

Billy Honsal: There is no tombstone.

Scott Hammond: All right. That's great.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

You know, it's, um… I hope my legacy lives on through my kids, you know?

Scott Hammond: Amen.

Billy Honsal: And so having-

Scott Hammond: Good

Billy Honsal: … that somewhere on the tombstone is-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … you know. They… I live through them-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Billy Honsal: … and through their kids.

Scott Hammond: Talk to my kids.

Billy Honsal: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I like it. All right.

Billy Honsal: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Billy, thanks for coming.

Billy Honsal: Scott, thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

Scott Hammond: Appreciate having you, man. And, uh, bless you, and godspeed to

all law enforcement-

Billy Honsal: Absolutely

Scott Hammond: … in Humboldt County and beyond.

Billy Honsal: Thank you very much.

Scott Hammond: Thanks again.

Billy Honsal: Appreciate it.

Scott Hammond: Bet.