#34. Wesley Chesbro: Championing Humboldt Through Politics, Environment & Community Impact

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome, uh, the 100% Humboldt Podcast with your host Scott Hammond and my new best friend, Wesley Chesbro.

Wesley Chesbro: Glad to be here.

Scott Hammond: How's it going, Wes?

Wesley Chesbro: I'm doing good.

Scott Hammond: Good to see you. So we're just talking, you've been fif- 50 years this year from the Arcata City Council.

Wesley Chesbro: That was my first, uh-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Wesley Chesbro: … student council at Humboldt at, uh, State College was a little earlier. But, um, my first elected office outside of student government was city council in 1974.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: So this spring it's 50 years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So when did it become Humboldt State University?

Wesley Chesbro: Just shortly thereafter, mid-'70s.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And, and now we, we look at the camera and go, "Cal Poly Humboldt," so it, everybody has to correct that.

Wesley Chesbro: I haven't quite gotten myself to CPH yet.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: That doesn't quite click for me.

Scott Hammond: We're getting there. We're getting there. So, uh, here you go. Move that just a little bit closer. There you go. So yeah, no, you have a big history. So you were pretty young on the city council then.

Wesley Chesbro: 22 years old. Yeah, I had a l- lot of chutzpah to-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Wesley Chesbro: … decide to do that. You know, the 18-

Scott Hammond: That's a word for it.

Wesley Chesbro: The 18-year-old vote had just happened a few years earlier.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: And the first person to take advantage of that was Alex Stillman.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, then Fairless.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, she got elected in '72-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … on the, uh, the, the young people were really excited about having the vote. And honestly, I don't think probably she or I would've won those first elections in '72 and '74 if it weren't for a huge turnout in the

Wesley Chesbro: dorms.

Scott Hammond: Right, right. And Victor Green came in somewhere-

Wesley Chesbro: A few years later, yeah

Scott Hammond: … '79, '80, something like that. Now he s- he tells me, now that he works at In-N-Out Burger, he's like the

Scott Hammond: ambassador.

Wesley Chesbro: He's the greeter.

Scott Hammond: He's the, he is the number one greeter.

Scott Hammond: Hi, Victor.

Wesley Chesbro: Great job for Victor.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man, he's, he's, he's e- energetic. He's, they'll just let-

Wesley Chesbro: Abundant fountain of energy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, still, and he, he goes, "No, I was the number, I was the first may- youngest mayor of Arcata." So he had to be pretty young too.

Wesley Chesbro: And you know what? They never made me mayor, so I never-

Scott Hammond: You never were mayor.

Wesley Chesbro: You know, they rotate it between the council members, but-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Wesley Chesbro: … I didn't make that one. I was, I think, a little too full of myself.

Scott Hammond: So tell me the Wesley story. Were you raised in SoCal like a lot of us and came to Humboldt and, uh, love to hear that.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, when I was born, we lived in Arizona, although my mom didn't trust the hospital in Nogales.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: So she came over to stay with her sister, and I was born in Glendale.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: And most of my childhood was spent in Southern California. And my dad, uh, was from the Pacific Northwest.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: And we took several summer vacations to the Pacific Northwest-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … one of which was to the Seattle World's Fair, which was-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Wesley Chesbro: … '62 or '63.

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Wesley Chesbro: And we camped at Richardson Grove.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: And I was in awe of those big trees.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: They're bigger now.

Wesley Chesbro: Oh, yeah, they are. I was, more than 50 years ago.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, probably 60 years ago.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Still growing

Wesley Chesbro: … and it rained, and, and I don't know how many listeners remember the Hartsook Inn, which the building is still there-

Scott Hammond: Sure, oh yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … across the, across the road.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: So it rained, so we didn't he- have to eat Mom's mush for breakfast. We got to go to Hartsook and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool

Wesley Chesbro: … and have pancakes, you know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So that was all re-

Wesley Chesbro: That's one of my, that's my earliest Humboldt memory.

Scott Hammond: That was a whole restaurant and setup then, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: What part of Southern California?

Wesley Chesbro: I went to high school in South Pasadena.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: But my dad, uh, before becoming a teacher, was a, a pastor in Spanish-speaking churches.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: And we, uh, moved a lot. It's a, a Free Methodist Church, and Methodists have the habit of rotating their pastors every four or

Wesley Chesbro: five years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, they do.

Wesley Chesbro: So my dad got kinda sick of that and became a, a teacher instead.

Wesley Chesbro: But-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Wesley Chesbro: … and then we settled down in South Pasadena.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Bethany, uh, Shea, who's, uh, one of my first guests, she's Methodist pastor and Catalyst pastor up in Arcata. She's terrific. Hi, Bethany. Um, how about, so Southern, uh, Pasadena, t- quick story, got arrested there when we were teenagers. We met a gal at Hotel del Coronado. Nick doesn't know this story, uh, so I'll tell it. And she said, "Come on up to Pasadena." And we, we got out of the Amtrak, and we flag a cop down, "Hey, where's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7th Street?" And he goes, "Get in the car. I'll show you."

Scott Hammond: Takes us, me and Philip, hi Phil, takes us all the way to, uh, Cindy's house, and we got to meet her mother for the first time. And, uh, he confirmed we were not runaways, and it was legit. He took off. She goes, "You guys get the hell outta here," as any good parent would do probably. So, um, anyway, that was our fun story. We, uh, we spent the weekend in Pasadena, went up to the mountains to, uh, is it Mount Wilson?

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: That was kinda neat.

Wesley Chesbro: It's the big mount that you, some days you can see it, and some days you can't-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … 'cause the smog rolls in and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, man

Wesley Chesbro: … yeah, just a few miles away.

Scott Hammond: Oh. I'd only heard the rumors 'cause we were San Diego, and it was still kinda relatively untouched. But you're above that, and you can look over, and, and it was

Scott Hammond: purple.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it wasn't, uh, fog.

Wesley Chesbro: So my, uh, second time, I, uh, during a year of, uh, teenage troublemaking, I hitchhiked through Arcata on the way up to see my brother at Fort Lewis in, in Washington State-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Wesley Chesbro: … and, uh, s- spent the night in Arcata, and that would've been about 1967.

Scott Hammond: How about that? Wow, so then you came up-

Wesley Chesbro: So next, next time you see a hitchhiker or a young person that seems like they aren't quite anchored, uh, in any particular place-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Wesley Chesbro: … you know, you might look at them and say, "That's a f- might be a future state senator," so you better-

Scott Hammond: That could, that guy could-

Wesley Chesbro: You better treat him like a human being.

Scott Hammond: He could go all the way. That's right. Yeah, that's right. He's another human being. So, uh, how did you then make that transition to Humboldt… Was it Humboldt S-

Wesley Chesbro: Humboldt State College

Scott Hammond: … State College? Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: So that-

Scott Hammond: It was Teachers College before that.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, I won't go back that far.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Sorry.

Scott Hammond: You're old, but you're not that old.

Wesley Chesbro: I do go back to Humboldt State College. Uh, well, I remembered Arcata. I remembered the redwoods. Uh, and, uh, I th- I was listening to your Patrick Ferry interview where he talked about finding the place furthest west from New York.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, I'm the-

Scott Hammond: Patrick's Point.

Wesley Chesbro: … example of the person who wanted to afford a state university education but wanted to get as far north as I could get.

Wesley Chesbro: And-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … and it felt, uh, I, I've always had a hankering to get back to the Pacific

Wesley Chesbro: Northwest.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: I thought Humboldt might be a stepping stone. I'd wind up, up on Puget Sound, but-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … once I got here, I stayed.

Scott Hammond: Let me locate Humboldt State for our watchers, listeners. It's, uh, right up here on the nor- here's Eureka, the county seat. It, it's funny 'cause I do this all the time, so it's kinda, it's n- vaguely, it's not even funny anymore. But Arcata's right here at the top, and that's where Humboldt, I'm sorry, Cal Poly Humboldt is now, which is still a remarkable school.

Wesley Chesbro: I think we can still call it Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, everybody's, "Hey, it's Humboldt. He g- did you go to Humboldt?" I went to, I went to Humboldt, majored in, uh, recreation administration, class of '82.My kids go, "What? Recess? What, what is that?"

Scott Hammond: So anyway, so Janet Cole actually introduced me once in a Toastmasters thing. She goes, "Yeah, did you major in recess? What is that?" It's so ri- vaguely funny. So what did you study at Humboldt?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, well, I, I, uh, studied, uh, first natural

Wesley Chesbro: resources.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And then I moved to political science.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And here's the really weird story is that, uh, I never graduated from Humboldt. I graduated from the University of San Francisco.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: When I got elected to city council-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … I thought politics was my education, and I dropped out.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, but, uh, from the get-go, Humboldt was the Hu- Humboldt State College, now Cal Poly, was the place that nurtured me and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … gave me the confidence and made me really who I was and who I am.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: So I still always, have always felt like an alum, and for

Wesley Chesbro: years, um, Dr. McCrone at the time would-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … introduce me as an alum at events.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and I'd look at my shoes.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Wesley Chesbro: So finally, I went up to him-

Scott Hammond: Did you correct him?

Wesley Chesbro: … and I said, I said, "Dr. McCrone, I hate to tell you, but I didn't graduate from

Wesley Chesbro: Humboldt."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: And he looked at me and says, "I know that. Look up alumnus, alumni in the dictionary."

Scott Hammond: That's funny.

Wesley Chesbro: Turns out it just means attendant.

Scott Hammond: You went there.

Wesley Chesbro: And then Connie Stewart nominated me, and I was selected to be one of the distinguished alums.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: And I had to get up in front of a whole crowd, a whole room of people and say, "I'm the first, uh, di- distinguished alum who didn't graduate."

Scott Hammond: Didn't actually graduate. That's okay. I, th- not pretending. It's true, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: But in fact, uh, my experiences as a student in student politics and the classes I took and the people I was inspired by really were the, what launched me into a lifetime in, in, of political

Wesley Chesbro: activism.

Scott Hammond: Sure. Sure. Now, you're on the… I was on the just the backside and came up in '78, fall of '78, so Humboldt was a little bit more radical 'cause of the Vietnam era in the, in the early '70s, right?

Scott Hammond: There was-

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah, I came in 1969.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: And the following spring, Nixon bombed Cambodia.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Students got shot at Kent State-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … for protesting, and, uh, it radicalized a whole bunch of us,

Wesley Chesbro: and the-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, students shut the campus down with a student strike, and there was a-

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: … there was a rally in the quad in front of the theater there by the Folkerson Recital Hall-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … with, uh, virtually every student, not 100%, but probably 80% of the student body showing up.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: I think I've heard that story. Did it shut down for a number of days?

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh, the students went out, cut their hair, went out and canvassed, uh, uh, for, uh, anti-war p- uh, uh, purpose in the community.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, it was quite a experience. They had a strike headquarters at, uh, what was Northtown's Books in Northtown Arcata.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: So.

Scott Hammond: Huh. And that was '69?

Wesley Chesbro: No, that would've been nine- spring of 1970, I believe.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay. So, so Humboldt saw some ramifications from all that was going on nationally.

Wesley Chesbro: And there were a, there was a convergence of things that happened. The, uh, Earth Day happened.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, right

Wesley Chesbro: … and, uh, the, the North Coast Environmental Center was formed.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, a wh- uh, open door clinic, the, which originally was a

Wesley Chesbro: ragtag-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … hippie clinic with a bunch of volunteer, uh, providers.

Scott Hammond: Is that Spetzler, Herman Spetzler?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, that, that evolved into our, our primary care provider of the county, you know.

Scott Hammond: Which is

Scott Hammond: wonderful.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah, we're really lucky to have it even though there's a lot of holes in the

Wesley Chesbro: system.

Scott Hammond: We call it the medical desert, Joanie and I.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: My wife had a stroke nine months ago, and she's, she's recovered fine and, but, uh, the journey's been

Scott Hammond: hellacious.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. Well, lack of specialty care is something that we feel all the time.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, and we wanna support that big time. Yeah, so, uh, so you graduated then and, and then, or-

Wesley Chesbro: Well, I actually didn't-

Scott Hammond: I'm sorry, you did graduate

Wesley Chesbro: … I didn't graduate till many years later.

Scott Hammond: Did you then end up living in San Francisco?

Wesley Chesbro: No.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Wesley Chesbro: No, I, I went… When I was in Sacramento, which w- I guess we'll eventually get to

Wesley Chesbro: here-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … um, I went to a branch campus in, uh, Sacramento. Did have to go to San Francisco from, on occasion for-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Wesley Chesbro: … for things, but, uh, most, took most of my class coursework in Sacramento and graduated from the Sacramento branch campus.

Scott Hammond: So give me the, the, the, uh, the, uh, the, um,

Scott Hammond: ascension. So city council right to state senator?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, no. It was a long and winding road.

Scott Hammond: There's a gap in there.

Wesley Chesbro: A long and winding road.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: And I'll try to el- not elongate it any longer than it already is. Uh, two terms on the city council.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Got elected twice.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, helped manage the campaign for my predecessor on the board, Sarah

Wesley Chesbro: Parsons.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: She was a re- remarkable lady, right?

Wesley Chesbro: Well, she could… She believed all the same things I did, but she was, had white hair and pearls and a Southern accent and-

Scott Hammond: She seemed to have a great re- rep

Wesley Chesbro: … was so diplomatic that everyone loved her.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Wesley Chesbro: And I said the same things and, a- as a 25-year-old, and people were-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … you know, horrified.

Scott Hammond: But she, she had a nice, a manner.

Wesley Chesbro: She did. She did. Um, and then in nine- in 1980, when I had lunch with her to talk about her re-election campaign, she said, "I'm not running. I think you should, Wesley."

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: And, um, I was-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Wesley Chesbro: … I was 30 years old and-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, ran for supervisor. Every one of my elections, by the way, the first time out was, I won by a smidgen.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Fortunately, reelections came easier as time passed.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, and that was a real tight election 'cause, uh, even with the growth at Humboldt State, uh, Arcata was still a fairly conservative community, and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … the outlying areas like Bayside and Freshwater and were-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … um, not so friendly to the university and to-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … to young upstarts from Southern California.

Scott Hammond: It's kinda shifted a little bit, but yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh, so I sp- I got elected three times to the Board of Supervisors.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: 1980 to 1990.

Scott Hammond: Who'd you run against, um, th- in those years?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, I think my first opponent was a guy named-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, Tony Zanoni-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Wesley Chesbro: … um, who, uh, was from a longtime Humboldt family from down around Petrolia-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … I think, but who, uh, I, I… My memory's… It's been a long time.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: I think he was in, in real estate-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, as well.

Scott Hammond: Know the name, I think, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and then, uh, actually the third time I ran, I ran unopposed, which was the only time t- 10 elections I've had.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: And only one of them did I run unopposed.

Scott Hammond: Those are the good ones.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh, well, I, I-

Scott Hammond: Easier.

Wesley Chesbro: It's very strange, but, you know, you almost feel like you didn't have to work for

Wesley Chesbro: it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, so it took me a little while to adjust to that. I still ran a campaign. I walked door to door and hung signs up 'cause I thought-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … the voters deserved to have me ask 'em.

Scott Hammond: Connection, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: So then I, I, I skipped over having, uh, been the first director of the Arcata Recycling Center.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, back in the days with my chutzpah, I always claimed I was the founder, but in fact, it was a broad community effort that I-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … I was part of. Um-

Scott Hammond: You're lucky to be part

Wesley Chesbro: Right. But because of that, I… and also having the Cummings Road County Landfill in my district, I became very focused on recycling and solid waste and

Wesley Chesbro: landfills-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … and, uh, worked, and as a result, got appointed to several statewide committees and commissions working on legislation and policy statewide. And, uh, in 19– the late '80s, the legislature passed California's recycling mandate law that required every city and county to cut its waste stream in half.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And they appointed a full-ti- they created a full-time board.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and, uh, I was fortunate enough, and quite amazing that a county supervisor from little old Humboldt County got appointed to the f-first, um, uh, iteration of the California Integrated Waste Management Board. So-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, I took this job in Sacramento.

Scott Hammond: So that's a full-time gig then.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, kept my home here.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Promised when I resigned the board that, uh, I'd be back in four years.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, and-

Scott Hammond: How many years was that again?

Wesley Chesbro: It turned into 27.

Scott Hammond: Did you live right in Sac or…?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, outside in the 'burbs, out in the suburbs. Car-Carmichael.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, but we kept our house on South H and stayed registered to vote here-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, and intended to return, and four years turned into eight.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Got reappointed to the board, and then in 1998, the Senate seat opened up, the state Senate seat.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And, um, no– Usually a Senate seat, the candidates tend to come from having already served in the State Assembly, but there was nobody with that background, including Dan Hauser, who had previously represented us-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … in the Assembly, were interested in running. So my phone started ringing, and people saying, "You know, you ought to think about

Wesley Chesbro: this."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: So I ran for the state Senate-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and served in the Senate, uh, for the, the, uh, eight years that term limits allowed me.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Turned around two years later, ran for the Assembly. So I kinda s-went to-

Scott Hammond: You went the other way. Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … kinda went to high school first and then junior high school.

Scott Hammond: So who'd you run against in the, the, the S-Senate, first of all?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, a guy named John Jordan.

Scott Hammond: Jordan, okay.

Wesley Chesbro: And he spent-

Scott Hammond: Is he from down below?

Wesley Chesbro: He's from a wealthy Texas oil family that owned a winery in Sonoma

Wesley Chesbro: County. They s- they spent six million dollars on trying to get

Wesley Chesbro: him elected.

Scott Hammond: Jeez.

Wesley Chesbro: And I had to raise half that to even be

Wesley Chesbro: in the race.

Scott Hammond: To show up, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: In the end, I, I beat him pretty good by about 10 percentage points, but, um, it was, uh, intense. And the only thing he had to hang on me was he, he didn't have any experience or history of his own.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, and so he accused me of being a carpetbagger, even though my kids were born here. I'd owned a home here since my mid-20s.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, I'd voted in every election here.

Scott Hammond: Wait, he's the one from Texas.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, he– I think he grew up here, but his-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … family's, uh, from Texas.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: Um, anyway, it was hairy, but, uh, it wound up, uh, turning out pretty well.

Scott Hammond: Six million dol- That's a lot of money even-

Wesley Chesbro: Now

Scott Hammond: … now.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Huh. How about that? Who'd you run against the second time?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, I don't even remember.

Scott Hammond: Remember. Now I'm asking you. Yeah. So you went the other way.

Wesley Chesbro: I think it was a w- it was a woman from Lake County.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Then you went back to the Assembly.

Wesley Chesbro: So 14 years altogether.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Wesley Chesbro: And then, um, when I was done, and we have term limits, so… And I was ready to be done.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And the, really, the whole time I was in Sacramento, all I could think about was

Wesley Chesbro: coming home-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, 'cause, uh, you know, living there was not my, my chosen lifestyle. It's where the work was, the opportunity to affect things for the people, uh, that I care about.

Scott Hammond: And Sac was exploding-

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in growth, right, at that time.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Hot and, and muggy.

Wesley Chesbro: So I just constantly pined for home. But when I got done, my wife had evolved into a community college instructor in Sacramento.

Scott Hammond: Oh, okay.

Wesley Chesbro: Had been teaching for a number of years-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and wasn't ready to retire, so we spent a few more years, uh, there before we, uh, then came on home.

Scott Hammond: And that's when we had the early morning United flight from Sac, right?

Wesley Chesbro: We used to have it.

Scott Hammond: At 5:00 a.m., and it would get here pretty early.

Wesley Chesbro: But, uh, beats the heck out of driving, so.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Wesley Chesbro: But so, yeah, I really, I really felt a sense of loss when that, uh, when that went

Wesley Chesbro: away.

Scott Hammond: That's a pretty key flight. Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So-

Wesley Chesbro: That's a, that's a nutshell.

Scott Hammond: That's a, that's a history.

Wesley Chesbro: So f- 40 years in, in either po- uh, elected or appointed office.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: So.

Scott Hammond: So if you were to grab top three takeaways of your, your mission in, in that, in that s- public service, what would you– what were you about? What did, what did you want to see?

Wesley Chesbro: Well, that kind of, uh, e-evolved-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … over time-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Okay

Wesley Chesbro: … 'cause I, 'cause you could say I grew, grew up in politics. I mean, when you're elected 22 year old, you still have a lot of life lessons to

Wesley Chesbro: learn.

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.

Wesley Chesbro: And I think I started out, um, believing that the, the job of an elected official is to advance their own ideas and, and push forward a very specific

Wesley Chesbro: agenda.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, over a long period of time, I evolved into understanding that the primary job of an elected official is to bring people together of different points

Wesley Chesbro: of view-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … and s- to solve problems. Um, and that means y-you don't let go of your personal point of view.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, but you, uh, uh, first of all, respect other points of view.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: And you realize that s-solutions aren't gonna happen unless y-you find a way for people to listen to each other and compromise.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh, that was a long road.

Scott Hammond: Man, I wanna insert a comment right now about today and the environment we've been in for 10 years.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, as I went that way, the rest of the world went– the rest of the country went the other way.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And I'm not just talking about the right wing. I'm talking about the left wing. Everybody w-went to their corners, and compromise is a dirty word, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, and so that was a great frustration to me.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: Which is the strength of what we're built on, right, as a nation-

Wesley Chesbro: Well, and I-

Scott Hammond: … and a state

Wesley Chesbro: … hopeful that this is a cycle we're in and that people will re– well, as, as we fail to address a lot of important problems, people will go back to trying to find mutually-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … mutually agreeable solutions.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: Super, super common thread with people that are sitting in that chair here for the last six months, right? That if, if people could figure out how toGet it together and work together in the s- the C word. Yeah, the other C word

Wesley Chesbro: So on the city council, I was part of a majority, and we made big changes-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … in Arcata. Adopt- we adopted a new general plan that protected all of the f- the farm- most of the farmland around Arcata.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, we s- uh, fought to establish the Arcata Marsh

Wesley Chesbro: Project.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: We started Humboldt County's first bus transit system.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … did a lot of, I think-

Scott Hammond: Par- was the park part of that, Redwood Park? Was that part of the-

Wesley Chesbro: Well-

Scott Hammond: … establishment and its-

Wesley Chesbro: … that's another thing I, I learned.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Wesley Chesbro: And it's… And the park is a, a… The fo- community forest-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … is a good example. You know, a- all of us stand on the shoulders of people before us, even the people who we disagree with a lot.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: And one of the things I have come to see is that people that we, uh, we chased out of office and replaced, uh, did a lot of good things.

Scott Hammond: Nice. Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: And the, the forest-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … was acquired by the city long before we came along.

Scott Hammond: They had it for s- '50s?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, I'm not sure exactly when it was. There's a nice little plaque. If folks are up at Redwood Park and they wanna walk over to where the trail goes up-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … there's a little plaque that lists all the city council members at the time, and believe me, it was well before my time.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: But we did, uh, adopt the now world-recognized Sustainable Forest Plan 'cause it had not been previously… Uh, the park itself was preserved, but the-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … outer areas of the community forest was being harvested in-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … more traditional, uh, commercial fashion.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … the city loved the revenue, of course.

Scott Hammond: Of course. Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, but one of the things that I think we accomplished was to move the f- move the, the forest towards a, uh, a, not only a sustainable, uh, basis, but also gradually restoring old-growth characteristics by growing larger and larger trees.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, so that was one of our significant accomplishments, but if the previous very conservative city council had not acquired that forest originally, we wouldn't have owned a forest.

Scott Hammond: Right. Right.

Wesley Chesbro: Another example is the marsh.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, it's a long and complicated story. I, I can only give you the nutshell version, but-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … um, we fought the other entities in Humboldt County who wanted all the federal money to build a gigantic centralized sewage treatment plant where everybody's sewage would be piped.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really? Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: And, you know, Eureka had only primary treatment. McKinleyville had none.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: You know, rainy winter like this-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … you could smell it running-

Scott Hammond: It had ditches

Wesley Chesbro: … in the ditches.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it had ditches along Central Avenue is what I-

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. Well, the septic tanks sometimes worked and-but-

Scott Hammond: Gross

Wesley Chesbro: … overflowed from the rain, you know?

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Wesley Chesbro: Arcata had built a primary treatment plant.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: In fact, I think a secondary tre- a second… excuse me, a secondary treatment plant.

Scott Hammond: That was already down there?

Wesley Chesbro: That was already down there. So there was already a level of treatment that the marsh then, uh, established the further level of, uh, of improvement of the water before it's discharged into the bay.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: And but, again, like the forest, we would not have been able to pull that off if there had not been a farsighted effort to clean up Arcata's pollution-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … ahead of us n- us really smart newcomers who thought we invented the wheel.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause that was the junkyard, right? That was the dump, right?

Wesley Chesbro: That was the dump.

Scott Hammond: At one point.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so Frank Klopp, he was the… Was he the k- well, he and o- he and his team.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah, there was a group.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, it was really a team effort. And one of the unique things about the Marsh Project that's long forgotten is that Arcata was extremely polarized at the time between-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Wesley Chesbro: … the old-timers and more conservative folks and us newcomers, university-oriented folks. Um, and because of the cost of a r- giant regional plant and the fact that the city had already invested in the existing sewage treatment plant-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … it brought the sides together. We had… Uh, we were a little nervous about pursuing the marsh because the state was threatening to put a building moratorium on Arcata and to punish us for not going along.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Wesley Chesbro: And we thought, "We better ask the voters if, if this is what they want," 'cause then we can… If there's a price to be paid, at least the voters will have helped us decide this,

Wesley Chesbro: right?

Scott Hammond: Sure. So you put it on the ballot?

Wesley Chesbro: So we put it on the ballot, and it was supported by everybody, and it passed with, like, 85% of the vote, so-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … it was a moment of unity at a time, in a time when-

Scott Hammond: I love it

Wesley Chesbro: … you know, Redwood National Park, uh, you know, the Coastal Commission, all these forest practices-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … were all very contentious. But the marsh did bring, bring people together. And there was a, a working group of university folks, uh, Frank Klopp, the, the engineer-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, Mayor Dan Houser at the time-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, all working together to, uh, come up with this unique design.

Scott Hammond: So this consortium of, of brains and agencies

Scott Hammond: and… Um, re- real fast, 'cause a lot of people would go, "Hey, I go to the marsh, and I walk, and I see birds." Re- real quick, in 30 seconds, it, it has a unique world-class iconic story, right? It was, it was a dump that has been converted into something exponentially more useful.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, it, it is in fact the third stage of the sewage treatment for Arcata. Now, it's not raw sewage going into the marsh. It's already secondarily treated.

Wesley Chesbro: That's-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … the, the… But the… There are nutrients remaining in the, our, our waste that we, uh, ship to the treatment plant-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … that then are the basis for a food chain and an ecosystem.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: It feeds plants. It feeds fish. It feeds… And which in turn feed birds.

Scott Hammond: And it's 50 years old, so it works.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. Well, it's, it's not perfect.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And it's been under its… And it's being modified and upgraded because it isn't-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … perfect. Um, a lot's been learned over the years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: But, uh, that kinda leads me to another thing I wanted to-

Scott Hammond: Sure. Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … talk about-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … which is,

Wesley Chesbro: um, the university and Humboldt County, uh, provide a,

Wesley Chesbro: uh, a, a w- a connection to the world that is not always recognized.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and I'll give you a couple of examples.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, the marsh treatment system that was pioneered by Arcata has been replicated in communities all over the world.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: And the largest example, which is I don't know how many hundred times as large-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … is there's a marsh treatment system downstream from the ag land, uh, outside of, um-The, uh, wetlands of southern Florida.

Scott Hammond: Oh, how about that?

Wesley Chesbro: And so the ag- ag waste, the nutrients that are in the agriculture, the, the nitrogen from the fertilizer and, uh, is filtered through the marsh-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and, uh, winds up, um, winds up providing a much higher, uh, uh, water quality that flow- then flows into-

Scott Hammond: Is that near the Everglades or the-

Wesley Chesbro: It's the Everglades. That's what we're talking about.

Scott Hammond: Okay. National park.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, so, uh, graduate students, uh, Bob Gearhe- Bob Gearhart, who was w- who was the engineering pr- uh, prof at Humboldt, who was part of the task force-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … working group, and really he and his students did a lot of the actual engineering and design work. Uh, th- after he retired, he went off and, and worked with communities around the world, as have-

Scott Hammond: He did that?

Wesley Chesbro: … as did his students. And so it's an example of Humboldt, and I don't just wanna confine it to Arcata, but-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … Humboldt's, uh, capacity for experimentation, bringing together, uh, creativity-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … and intelligence and experimentation, and then rippling out, uh, and having a, a beneficial effect. Another example, when I was on the Integrated Waste Management Board-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, there's a national group called the National Recycling Congress, and they have a big conference every year somewhere in the country-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … where all the recyclers, private industry, environmental activists, government people all come together, and the whole time I was on the Waste- Integrated Waste Management Board, I attended those conferences.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And every year there would be a, a Humboldt powwow of recyclers who were Humboldt State

Wesley Chesbro: graduates.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, and I went… I mean, 50 people would show up, a- all alums.

Wesley Chesbro: Hum- it was-

Scott Hammond: At, at the conference?

Wesley Chesbro: Well, uh, I mean, it would be in a, on a, in a pub somewhere near the conference.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, or… And-

Scott Hammond: Better yet

Wesley Chesbro: … um, and people would go around and introduce themselves and talk about what they're doing.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Wesley Chesbro: And two examples that I remember come to mind. One of them was, and this is, uh, pre-DeSantis.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: He was the solid waste, uh, director for the state of Florida-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Wesley Chesbro: … and was pursuing recycling programs in Florida. Another one, uh, was the recycling director for American Airlines, and these were students who volunteered with the campus recycling project and the-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Wesley Chesbro: … Arcata Recycling Center.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, again, uh… And, and by the way, on the staff at the, uh, newly created Integrated Waste Management Board, there were about 30 or 40 Humboldt State grads. You know?

Scott Hammond: So Humboldt has a heritage that ripples.

Wesley Chesbro: And, and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … yeah, and I think that continues, and we need to think of-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … we need to think of the university and the university growth-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and the diversification of the makeup of the student body-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … as all our, uh, our contribution to, uh, making the world a better place.

Wesley Chesbro: I-

Scott Hammond: Love it

Wesley Chesbro: … I think it's a-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … a big part of who we are.

Scott Hammond: I had a big, I had a big connection to the Buck House, and I was in cluster, and we, we stayed and taught and learned it up at the Buck House, which was… It was CCAT? Was that what it was called?

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: It was, it was a, a model for recycling and gray water and the whole nine. I mean, maybe-

Wesley Chesbro: Then out of that, and, and I don't know how much it's connected, but the Schatz Energy Lab is another example-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … of where research has been done that makes a significant impact in terms of our efforts to move to more sustainable energy supplies and conservation-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … in order to address climate change, so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. So that Buck House model and, and us knucklehead students that, that kind of hung out there, um, you know, it had it all. It had the yurt, the, the yurt in the back and-

Wesley Chesbro: Right

Scott Hammond: … the gray water system and-

Wesley Chesbro: It wasn't just some-

Scott Hammond: … and we had a big garden and-

Wesley Chesbro: It wasn't just some kooky hippie Arcata thing.

Scott Hammond: No, it was, uh, it was-

Wesley Chesbro: It's become mainstream.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, now it's mainstream. Yeah. Now, now people know that's what it's about. Yeah, it's interesting. So you're… When I listen to you, you come from an era of where recycling was new and being

Scott Hammond: adopted, um, where we're doing some major things in Arcata, the park, you know, the Redwood Park, um, community forest. Which by the way, I was gonna say, it seems like it's really used a lot now. Like p- like pre- and post-COVID, it's like people rediscovered and, like, there's… My wife runs there and hikes there all the time, and she goes, "There's always people there."

Wesley Chesbro: And it's a destination 'cause it's closer in to the-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: It's not an old growth forest, but it is, uh, as close as we've got-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … close in. Uh, you don't have to hike to Headwaters or drive to Humboldt Redwoods or to Prairie Creek.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, and people… I know when we have visitors, um, if they don't have the time or the-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, ability to make it to the more outlying, uh, old growth redwood forests-

Scott Hammond: Hey

Wesley Chesbro: … it's, it's a, it's a pretty decent substitute.

Scott Hammond: It'll do, yeah. Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And it gets better as time passes it because of the way the city is

Wesley Chesbro: managing it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, and it ages well. And so Sequoia Park, on the other hand, in Eureka, is… It's okay, but it's not, it's not the same, it's not the same size or anything.

Wesley Chesbro: But the, I think the McKay Tract has, uh, some elements, some, uh, some specific, uh, parts of it that, uh, do have some of those characteristics. And it… I don't, I'm not involved in it, and I don't know specifically.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: But my impression is that they aspire to-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Wesley Chesbro: … move towards, uh, something comparable to what Arcata has done.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha. Yeah. So you've been part of a big bunch of history there. So who is Wesley Chesbro, and, and what do you want?

Wesley Chesbro: Who am I and what do I want?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I, I was asked this. So that's, uh, the two… Jo- Jody's father made up those questions. I'm sure he got it from some other guy. But the idea of, uh, how would you characterize yourself, and what's your, what's your desire going forward for, say, the county or the world?

Wesley Chesbro: Well, I guess, uh, you know, I grew up in a family that was involved in serving others-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … either through the ministry or through teaching. I'm the odd one out. I didn't become a schoolteacher.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: My wife, my brother, my brother-in-law.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, you know, it's, it's, uh, a thread through, uh, my whole

Wesley Chesbro: family.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, but I do think that influenced me to believe that, uh, serving others is what it's about. And so that's what-

Scott Hammond: Absolutely

Wesley Chesbro: … I've really spent my life doing, and I'm, uh, still, still to some degree through some volunteer work-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … um, in a much, much smaller capacity-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, trying to continue to do my part, you know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and I, uh… Recent, uh, events, including the increased understanding of climate change, have really challenged my, uh, my belief in the direct line of, uh-Uh, improvement in hum- in the human condition

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: I think as a idealist in the '60s and the '70s, that was the dream.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And now I realize that there's steps forward and steps back-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, and we've got a long ways to go, but, uh, making the world a better place for, uh, not on- for all species, but i- also for human beings.

Scott Hammond: Amen, brother. Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and so that's always been real high on my list. And I always felt, as much as it, as when you run a campaign, you're putting yourself out there and it's kind of an ego trip, I always felt like I was part of something bigger than myself, you know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And that-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … it was really a larger effort to improve things.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I like it. I like the c- the concept of stewardship-

Wesley Chesbro: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … and being that guy. Um, so talked about the past a little bit. Um, let's talk about the present real quick in, in terms of what you see happening, uh, Humboldt, northern Humboldt, and, and then we'll talk a little bit about the future, what you would like to s- what you see, what you'd like to see. Um, what's going on right now that you kinda like, uh, in the county and, and maybe some of the challenges, too.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. Well, we are, uh, a truly unique place.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and to some degree, that makes us a little smug and a little bit, you know, patting ourselves on the back.

Scott Hammond: There's, there's a little bit of that, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, most of the, most of what's unique about us, we didn't create; God did. And nature did. Uh, but it's attracted, uh, I think, a level of creativity-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and capacity, um, whether it's in the arts or business or, uh, uh, environmental, uh, protection, um, that really puts us in a r- in a v- in a pretty special place that is human driven.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and so as a result, we have, I think, uh, it's part of what's built this place to be what it is. Uh, going back to the university-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … though, uh, if we didn't have that university, we'd be a beautiful place like Crescent City. And I'm not putting Crescent City down-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … for those of you that are watching.

Scott Hammond: Or Coos Bay.

Wesley Chesbro: Or Coos Bay or Susanville. Beautiful places-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … but we'd be a white spot in the road, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Economically, culturally.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And so I really have to say that it's a vortex of the natural environment, the university, and the kinds of people who have been attracted here, um, and some of whom were born and raised here, like Julie.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … who really make a tremendous contribution, although in most cases, people like Julie had to leave, and then re- and then realize, "Oh."

Scott Hammond: And come back.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, but, uh, nonetheless, I think that's what, what, uh, made me homesick the whole time I was in Sacramento-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, but also drove me to wanna represent this place in a way that I, the best way that I possibly could. There's a under- undercurrent, though, of, um, self-satisfaction-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and, uh, resistance to change that is, uh,

Wesley Chesbro: um, can be a negative.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: I think the change… Um, change is our friend. Change is inevitable.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: So we, uh, well, we have to make it our friend.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: It isn't always our friend.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: But I think, um, we're part of a larger world, and I think maybe being in the legislature and, and working with people who represented-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … every different kind of place in the state-

Scott Hammond: You'd see it, yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … gave me a much broader perspective. I came to see the university as part of the larger effort to educate future generations and not just our own quaint little,

Wesley Chesbro: uh-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … institution.

Scott Hammond: Bigger picture.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Somebody called it the Humboldt no. Yeah. What's- "We wanna do it." "No."

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's just it, there's an arrogance and a, and a, a limited "We're not curious. Uh, no, we're not gonna do that." You know, we're, we're… Let's… Yeah, so maybe it's a Humboldt yes.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, that's, that's really what I believe in, you know?

Wesley Chesbro: And-

Scott Hammond: Or a maybe

Wesley Chesbro: … and, well, it should be "Yes, but" because I don't think we should just, um, say that a- a- all change is good, all growth is

Wesley Chesbro: good, but-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … um, you know, we do have to share the planet with other human beings-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and we have to share the bounty of what we have.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, and frankly, uh, one of the other things I've learned is to have compassion for the people who lived here before we showed up-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … and, uh, wondered who the heck we were and why we wanted to change things.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, so, uh, those are, are lessons that I feel blessed with that I sometimes have to get in arguments with my friends about.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, one of the things that happened to me when I came home, it was about the time that Josiah, Josiah Lawson was murdered.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And I came to be aware through various means that students of color, which are now 50% of the student body at Cal

Wesley Chesbro: Poly-

Scott Hammond: Wow. How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. About 40%, uh, L- Latino or Latinx-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … about 10%, uh, Black and, and Native, uh, Indigenous folks-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Wesley Chesbro: … um, that they're not always made to feel welcome.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And, you know, Arcata, uh, do you remember, uh, Lake Wobegon-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … on NPR?

Scott Hammond: Absolutely.

Wesley Chesbro: Well-

Scott Hammond: Every, every Saturday

Wesley Chesbro: … my line about Lake Wobegon is, uh, you know, uh, all the children are not above average and Arcata's not Nirvana.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh-

Wesley Chesbro: … um, and we have our imperfections, and racism exists everywhere.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and I, uh, I– One particular thing that really pushed me was there were a couple of graduate students, uh, at Humboldt who did a project where they interviewed students of color about their experience of living in Arcata.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and then they put them online, and I watched some of them.

Wesley Chesbro: They-

Scott Hammond: Not too flattering?

Wesley Chesbro: Broke my heart.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: There was o- one young Black woman who said that she'd had– she'd been called a name and been treated badly in her first few months in Arcata.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And I start to tear up when I tell this story 'cause I bawled when I first saw it.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, she said she went back to campus and never left.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And she was transferring for her senior year to Hayward.

Scott Hammond: Sad.

Wesley Chesbro: And that just-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, really, uh, is counter to the narrative that we all have, and I'm not pointing fingers because I have that same kind of "Aren't we great?"-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … mindset.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: But I decided to get involved in a small way-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … in volunteering to be more– to try to c- uh, make Arcata feel like a more welcoming community-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … for those students. A- actually all students, but-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … m- specifically focusing on students of color.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: So I'm part of a working group, uh, called Home Away From

Wesley Chesbro: Home.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And four times a year, we do, uh, community potlucks where we, uh, invite all students, but our message is really directed to the students of

Wesley Chesbro: color.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and we, we feed a couple hundred students, and we provide each of them with a bag of, uh, goodies, household goods, and personal care items.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and-

Scott Hammond: Where do you do, where do you do the dinner?

Wesley Chesbro: At the D Street, uh, Community Center-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … Neighborhood Center-

Scott Hammond: Yep

Wesley Chesbro: … which is right there by the off-ramp.

Scott Hammond: Just walk as a student-

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … go right there.

Wesley Chesbro: And we've contemplated trying to move somewhere bigger because that place sometimes gets packed with students.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, sh- I hope the fire marshal isn't watching- … um, or listening.

Scott Hammond: We won't tell him.

Wesley Chesbro: But, uh, uh, but, you know, it's so close to campus, and the students we most wanna reach are students like that young woman-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … who, who've been delivered a message that they don't belong here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh, we want to deliver a message to them that they do.

Wesley Chesbro: And-

Scott Hammond: And if Arc- Arcata's guilty, I can't imagine, and I, I won't call out another s- city name right now, but other outlying areas-

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … would be subject to similar behavior.

Wesley Chesbro: But there's a… Uh, I mean, I was kinda shocked, and when I have this conversation individually with people 'cause they say, "What are you doing, Wes?"

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And I tell them about this, um, a lot of them are very taken aback. I think there's a ability… You know, uh, most of us white people were raised to believe that the problems were in the past, and we're all p- all past of that, past that.

Scott Hammond: LBJ fixed all that.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: The '60s took care of that.

Wesley Chesbro: Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no.

Wesley Chesbro: And when you live in a s- generally tolerant liberal community, there's a in, there's a difficulty in seeing, uh, what's wrong

Wesley Chesbro: as well.

Scott Hammond: That's a really great-

Wesley Chesbro: So it gives me a chance to have the conversation with people-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and talk to them about it and make them think about it, too, you know?

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … and-

Scott Hammond: That, that must have a name, that, that, uh, uh, obtuse blindness to, um, whether it's liberal or conservative or im- moderate, I think there's a blindness

Scott Hammond: to, um…

Wesley Chesbro: Self-reflection.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. All right.

Wesley Chesbro: And it's not just individual reflection.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: It's not finger-pointing. It's not saying because you do- haven't noticed

Wesley Chesbro: it-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … you're some kind of terrible person.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Wesley Chesbro: It's, it's, um, learning. It's a, it's a path. It's a journey.

Scott Hammond: But it's really discomforting.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … not, not a comfortable topic.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know, um, uh, y- I think it's great you brought it up, by the way. But the, uh… Yeah, to, to think that we would suffer

Scott Hammond: from that a- and on, you know… Those are, those are the guys that we love. We wanna bring everybody into the-

Wesley Chesbro: Well, and they're the, they're the future, uh, uh, environmental engineers, uh, who are gonna go out and provide big solutions, and-

Scott Hammond: Change the world

Wesley Chesbro: … a- and, and, you know, the world is not all, especially, and increasingly

Wesley Chesbro: California-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Wesley Chesbro: … is not all middle-class white people, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: The, the CSU system is, is educating a group of people that we need

Wesley Chesbro: to be-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … educated, and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … I'm proud that Arcata and Humboldt is part of that and providing that, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: So.

Scott Hammond: Amen.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, the other, uh, volunteer gig, uh, that I've recently resigned from, but I spent- … quite a few years after I left the legislature on the board of something called the Pacific Forest Trust.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And it's, um, a forest conservation organization that works to provide financial incentives for private forest landowners to prioritize not just producing lumber-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Wesley Chesbro: … but producing trees that sequester carbon and fight climate

Wesley Chesbro: change-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Wesley Chesbro: … provides wildlife and fishery, fish habitat.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, there's a variety of ways to do that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and, uh, the Pacific Forest… It's based in San Francisco. The other board member I served with was Andy- Andrea Tuttle, who's well known to many of your viewers and listeners. Um, but I spent quite a few years, uh, working with them on forest policy in Sacramento, so I'm pretty much removed now from the Sacramento scene and-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … no longer on the, on the board, but that-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … was another volunteer gig that I've been working on.

Scott Hammond: And that differs from the, uh, land trust that, uh, Dennis Rayel's part of, and they, they, they actually actively acquire lands,

Scott Hammond: right?

Wesley Chesbro: Right.

Scott Hammond: So little different focus.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, Pacific Forest Trust, uh, owns, um, a, a few fo- uh, private, a few chun- uh, parcels of forest land.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: But the primary focus is on, uh, making it, uh, economically ad- advantageous-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … for a private landowner to manage their land, uh, in a way similar to the Arcata Community Forest, you know?

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and, uh, so they've done a lot of good work all over Northern California, Oregon, Washington.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, good organization.

Scott Hammond: Well, Dennis, Dennis made a, a nice comment. It was that i- in, in that role that he's played there, they, they've got to mix and mingle with a lot of people of all pol- political

Scott Hammond: persuasion-

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and, and found, he found common ground.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, in my, uh, closing years in the legislature, I was able to chair the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Wesley Chesbro: And I put together a working group of forest, uh, uh, lumber companies, foresters-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Wesley Chesbro: … forest landowners, and conservationists-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Wesley Chesbro: … to work together to kind of come up with some common solutions, and we had some

Wesley Chesbro: success.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Wesley Chesbro: And Pacific Forest Trust was key to that, but it is what Dennis was talking about and you're mentioning-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, which was to leave your guns at the door and s- and open your mind and listen. And, and that's the idea of incentivizing private landowners.

Wesley Chesbro: It's not-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … it's not necess- it's not, uh, creating more government ownership.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: It's, uh, trying to make sure that the vast majority of forest lands which, um, have been impacted by logging-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … um, and, uh, the, outside of the, the, um, national forests in this state and the national parks, um, most of the forest lands are privately owned.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh, helping forest landowners move to a better level-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … of environmental, uh, sustainability and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … support for, uh… And it's using incentives instead of j- just the rules.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: It's a carrot instead of a stick.

Scott Hammond: One more thing you said, and I'll, we'll move on from that, is it, it, it's not a big love fest. There, there's, there's a lot…

Scott Hammond: There…

Wesley Chesbro: Took years.

Scott Hammond: Took a little work, huh, Dennis?

Wesley Chesbro: Took years.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Took years, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, takes some work.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, but it's, it's good for the soul.

Wesley Chesbro: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Good work, yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … it's, it's, like, part of, connected to my evolution in terms of looking back at our attitude towards some of the old-timers in Arcata when we took over the political, uh-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Wesley Chesbro: … m- operation that took over City Hall, how it must have felt, and, and, and learning to respect and appreciate different points of view, which, um, I know there might be some old-timer out there saying, "I wish he'd learned that lesson 50 years ago."

Scott Hammond: We are them.

Wesley Chesbro: A- and I'll fess to, fess to having had a long and winding road to concluding that it's important to-

Scott Hammond: That's good. Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … to listen and respect other points of view, but-

Scott Hammond: I like that

Wesley Chesbro: … I think that's where we need to be and where we need to go.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.So where do you see opportunity ahead in terms of, uh, you know, we settled here a lot and talked about homelessness and, and, and you have– we haven't touched on that, and that's fine. But in terms of, uh, jobs, homelessness, medical, uh, where, where do you… I, I hear you saying the university holds a lot of, a lot of keys to a lot of this. I don't think any one thing holds,

Scott Hammond: you know,

Scott Hammond: the, uh, uh, the solution for it all. But what, what are your, what are your… What's your sense about our future?

Wesley Chesbro: Well, there are not, unfortunately, singular solutions.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: Sadly.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. I do have, in spite of a, a little bit of criticism of ourselves a few minutes ago-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … I do have a lot of confidence in this community and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … its capacity-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … to find solutions and find unique solutions. And, um, I think we have to work together.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, we have to have a tight, strong relationship with our legislators in-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … Sacramento-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … um, who fortunately we've been blessed, uh, that they've not neglected us. I've– When Patty Berg and I, uh, both left the legislature, I thought it might be the last time we'd have anybody from up here-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and it may be.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: But, uh, I do know that we need to keep them connected,

Wesley Chesbro: and they've-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … helped a lot, you know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, both, uh, our current assembly member and our senator. Uh, but we need to keep that, that connection-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … strong because, um, the worst thing that can happen to us is that in our self-satisfaction, we isolate ourselves.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: We cut out.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Now, is Rusty running for assembly?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, yeah, he is. I wasn't gonna mention names.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's okay.

Wesley Chesbro: I wasn't gonna say anything.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Rusty. He's, uh… And he lives in Arcata, correct?

Wesley Chesbro: He does. He does.

Scott Hammond: See, I kinda like that. I, I-

Wesley Chesbro: Someone has to come home to be in Humboldt County.

Scott Hammond: Right, and he would be, have a– he would have a pulse, and-

Wesley Chesbro: His wife's here, and his home's here

Scott Hammond: … he has to go through that airport up there and-

Wesley Chesbro: Or drive

Scott Hammond: … or see a doctor here, you know, and deal with the ER or-

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … you know, so I-

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … I, I, I… That, that doesn't hurt.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know, that, that can't hurt.

Scott Hammond: I like that.

Wesley Chesbro: But if he's not successful, and we don't know what's gonna happen, there's a passel of candidates running.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, we have to work as we did with, uh, Mike McGuire and Jim

Wesley Chesbro: Wood-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … to make sure that they know us and care for us.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and also, uh, um, our current congressman, our previous congressman, Mike Thompson-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … make sure that they're connected even if they live two, 200, 300 miles

Wesley Chesbro: away-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … you know.

Scott Hammond: And they seem to pay attention to Humboldt, right?

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hey, uh, lucky for you, you've reached the part of the show where we ask you a couple questions about, uh, well, fun stuff. So, uh, Wesley, you're given a, a $500 gift certificate to go eat out. Where do you, where do you take your sweetheart tonight?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, Lar- Laripen. It's always Laripen. Yeah. We're always working on it.

Scott Hammond: Laripen comes up a lot here.

Wesley Chesbro: We're always working on finding a new favorite.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And we, and we do spread it around, but if it's a special occasion-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … it's, it's always Laripen. And, you know, uh, Cindy and I go back to Dixie at, in the, at the, the, uh-

Scott Hammond: On the-

Wesley Chesbro: … Hilltop Tavern in West Haven.

Scott Hammond: On the hill, right? Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. And, uh-

Scott Hammond: '86, I think

Wesley Chesbro: … and, and for the whole time I was in the legislature, Dixie put on every… And actually, her successor in ownership, uh-

Scott Hammond: Is that Paul?

Wesley Chesbro: Paul.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, put on an annual holiday gala fundraiser for me, uh, in December every year.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: And it would– we'd post it online, and it would sell out immediately.

Scott Hammond: Oh, of course, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and, um, uh, so I have just a fond, fond, uh, uh, feel, and I have to give Paul credit for keeping that spirit, uh-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yes

Wesley Chesbro: … that Dixie spirit alive. And I got a little quick little story.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: I don't know if… We're running out of time, but-

Scott Hammond: Great. Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … I was walking into a Mexican restaurant in, uh, Fair Oaks, uh, east of

Wesley Chesbro: Sacramento-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … and who was sitting there talking to her son but Dixie.

Scott Hammond: Oh, really?

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. So we had a fun, very fun re-

Scott Hammond: That was Dixie's son?

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah, her son lives at, lives in Fair Oaks.

Scott Hammond: And has a Mexican restaurant, or he was just in there?

Wesley Chesbro: No, no.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: They were just there.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: And I think he's, uh… She still owns, I believe, or they did-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Wesley Chesbro: … until recently, the, the sauces.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh. They-

Wesley Chesbro: They sold the restaurant, but they still own the sauces.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Wesley Chesbro: And he, I th- believe, is the, the-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … the, uh, what, what's the right term? He's, manages it and markets that.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, for, uh, for, for her, for them. I'm not sure what the ownership arrangement-

Scott Hammond: Mustard dill sauce, by the way, put it on anything. It's amazing. The barbecue's great.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Funny, we just ate there Tuesday night. It was de- delicious. Had the lamb. And we met, uh, our daughter lives up in Boise. We have nine kids, and they're all over Amsterdam and Medford. But, uh, their friends who've traveled the world, uh, ate there, and they said, "Hey, uh, every bit as good as anything in California."

Wesley Chesbro: And, and there's an a-

Scott Hammond: French laundry, anything

Wesley Chesbro: … and there's an atmosphere.

Scott Hammond: There's a vibe, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And I don't know how Paul has successfully… I thought it was just Dixie, but he's… Y- you walk in there, and it still feels, feels… I can feel the spirit of Dixie there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, so he's really, uh, managed… I mean, he's in some w- ways made it his own, but he's also preserved-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … the real, that special feel. The atmosphere there is wonderful.

Scott Hammond: Never had a bad meal. Not ever. Not even close. So was, what was it called? 'Cause the g- our waitstaff was telling us it w- on the hill when it was in West

Scott Hammond: Haven.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah, and it was called The Hilltop Tavern, and I don't know-

Scott Hammond: That's right

Wesley Chesbro: … that building might be the West Haven Center for the Arts or s- it's, it was a

Wesley Chesbro: conver-

Scott Hammond: It was, it was kind of a little cafe thing, right?

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah, yeah. Um, and do you know Dixie's story at all? I don't know if we have time to tell it.

Scott Hammond: She was married to Pear, who was-

Wesley Chesbro: Well, long before that.

Scott Hammond: Okay. No.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, the owner… When Fred Neighbor and Joyce Howe owned Jambalaya in the

Wesley Chesbro: early-'70s-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, they hired her to come in on Friday nights, or maybe she just made the money of… She did these small plate meals on Friday nights-

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: … before the band early in the evening.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Wesley Chesbro: And people loved her food.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And so some people, in my understanding of the story, I may, it may be apocryphal, I don't know. But, uh- … my understanding of the story is that people, some of the patrons said, "Dixie, you need to be in business, and we'll help you." Put the money up to open.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh, she opened a little, in a little hovel in West Haven, which of course-

Scott Hammond: What a great mode.

Wesley Chesbro: … it just went boom, boom, boom, boom-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … and grew into Laripen. Laripen's still not centrally located.

Scott Hammond: I was gonna say that it should be successful 'cause it's on the other side of the other side of Tribune.

Wesley Chesbro: Once upon a time, that was the highway, but you know.

Scott Hammond: Right, right. Was that the old Colonial Inn? Is that what it was?

Wesley Chesbro: I, yep, yep.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Wow. No, you're right. It's, it's captured that same vibe, and it's, uh, delicious andHey. Hey, Dixie

Wesley Chesbro: And then Li- Per, Per came later and then, uh, uh, I think helped her diversify the menu. She was pretty oriented towards Southern cooking initially, and he-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … kinda made it a little more, uh, continental, a little broader in its, its, uh-

Scott Hammond: Larpin' good

Wesley Chesbro: … focus. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What was, uh, Per, was he Danish?

Wesley Chesbro: I-

Scott Hammond: Maybe he's-

Wesley Chesbro: Or, uh-

Scott Hammond: Could be Dutch. I don't-

Wesley Chesbro: I don't know. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Um, and what did they serve up on the hill, just to park on the, 'cause I think it's a-

Wesley Chesbro: Well, I remember-

Scott Hammond: … a legacy. It's special

Wesley Chesbro: … I remember chicken and ribs, and it-

Scott Hammond: It was chicken and ribs

Wesley Chesbro: … and it had kind of a Southern, Southern flavor, you know.

Scott Hammond: Right. Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: And then they moved down, and they diversified their menu a bit.

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, delicious food. Uh, so okay, uh, round two. You get a, a day to go for a hike. Where do you go? If… And you can't say the Arcata… Uh, you can say whatever forest you want.

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm. Well, that's a hard one 'cause I got a lot of favorites.

Wesley Chesbro: Um-

Scott Hammond: What are your top three?

Wesley Chesbro: I'd, I'd say if, with, if time is limited, it's the marsh or the Arcata forest.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, uh, and, and it depends on whether I'm alone or not because Cindy, we have a beach

Wesley Chesbro: wheelchair.

Scott Hammond: Oh, nice. Oh, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Cindy, Cindy can't hike a rugged trail or even very far on a level trail.

Scott Hammond: But not a-

Wesley Chesbro: But, um-

Scott Hammond: … beach chair

Wesley Chesbro: … I'm able, for example, to take her up, um, Ladybird Johnson Grove.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, it's a little bit of a push, pushing her up the hill, but-

Scott Hammond: Right

Wesley Chesbro: … we're able to do that.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful grove.

Wesley Chesbro: And now at Prairie Creek, they have this amazing device. It's a, uh, electric, um, I don't know what, I can't remember what it's called, but it's got a track on it. It's like a small tractor.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Wesley Chesbro: And it allows, uh, people… You have to reserve it 'cause-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Wesley Chesbro: … it's very popular, but anybody out there who's not mobile, I encourage you to

Wesley Chesbro: try it.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Wesley Chesbro: Go, you go to the b- the headquarters at Prairie Creek, and you can, you gotta c- call 'em or go online and-

Scott Hammond: Is there just-

Wesley Chesbro: … reserve it

Scott Hammond: … one, one of those?

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And then there's a designated safe trail for it, but, uh, but it's

Wesley Chesbro: spectacular.

Scott Hammond: Is it the trail right where the creek is-

Wesley Chesbro: Right behind the-

Scott Hammond: … by the-

Wesley Chesbro: Right behind, between the creek and the campground, yeah.

Scott Hammond: The HQ right there.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. And, uh, it's a, it's wonderful. Cindy loves it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, another short, very short one if we don't have time is, and we take the beach wheelchairs out to Clam Beach, you know.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Sure.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, so there's a few.

Scott Hammond: There's some right there, yeah. Joni likes to go out in Malal Dunes and hike that

Scott Hammond: out there.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, that's a personal, uh, I don't get out there very often.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: But when I do, it is a super personal favorite.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Um, I should be pointing these on the map, but I, I think I'll resist that temptation right now. Um, so let, a- as we close here, what do

Scott Hammond: you, um, what do you want us to say at your, your funeral and your celebration of life? And, and what does it say on your, your tombstone, if you could envision that, and what, what would you have us, uh, say a- about Wesley?

Wesley Chesbro: Hmm. Well, that I, I, I cared a lot.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, that I realized that life is a journey and not a destination, and that it's a learning curve.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And I had to be open to learning that I didn't know as, as much as I thought I knew.

Scott Hammond: Such a great lesson.

Wesley Chesbro: Um, and, uh, and it humbled me, you know.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Wesley Chesbro: Made me, I think, a better-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … servant of the public and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, taught me to, uh, to do a better job and, uh,

Wesley Chesbro: uh, try to, try to see others, try to understand, uh, other people's perspectives and what life might look like from their point of view, whether it's somebody who came from a different culture-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … a different color skin-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, or just that they politically disagree with me-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … uh, about something. Um-

Scott Hammond: Love it. Yeah. No, I love that. And by the way, that's gonna take a really big tombstone to put all

Scott Hammond: that on.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. Well, I suppose I should start worrying. Getting to the age I am, I should, should start thinking about what they, what, what I want on there. What we really want is a, a bench at the marsh. That would be my, uh-

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Wesley Chesbro: We did, when Cindy's folks died, we, we, we installed a bench on the, on the Hammond Trail overlooking the river and the ocean.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: And, uh, um, you know, that's a substitute for the old burial spot, you know.

Scott Hammond: What was her, her, what were their names?

Wesley Chesbro: Uh, Wayne and Crystal-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Wesley Chesbro: … Kellogg.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I think I've seen that bench. Yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm. It's, it's just at the bottom of Murray Road. It's, if you turn at the bottom of Murray Road on the paved, uh, section, it'd be the first bench you come to.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. My wife walks it a, runs it a lot. Joni Hammond on the Hammond Trail.

Wesley Chesbro: I wondered about that, if there-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Wesley Chesbro: … was any connection.

Scott Hammond: Well, I was gonna really lie to you right now and try to be funny, but, uh, I, it won't work. The, um-

Wesley Chesbro: They didn't name it after you

Scott Hammond: … so with my teenagers it's like, "Hey, Scott Hammond, Hammond Trail." "Really? Oh, that's ama-" "Yeah, Great Great Grandfather Jedediah Hammond ran Hammond Lumber." Uh, which is, it's all lies. But the, the truth is Hammond Lumber had that rail bed, and, uh, they were the number one-

Wesley Chesbro: There's another example

Scott Hammond: … yeah, number one redwood producer.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then they, they monopoly bust. They broke the monopoly.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah. Well, they, uh, hauled a whole lot of those old-growth trees out, but they offered us a preserved, uh, roadbed that is now a phenomenal trail.

Scott Hammond: Hey, man, and we-

Wesley Chesbro: So

Scott Hammond: … and more trail's coming.

Wesley Chesbro: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? Uh, between, we just walked that new section south of Eureka down to the power plant. It was m- magical. I'm looking, there's this cloud show going. I'm going, "This is-"

Wesley Chesbro: It's sweet

Scott Hammond: … it's not raining, and it's not very warm or sunny, but it was just

Scott Hammond: a view.

Wesley Chesbro: And that, that impulse to restore wetlands has, uh, spread from Arcata to, uh, Eureka and beyond.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Interesting. Yeah, the trail, the trail ethos and-

Wesley Chesbro: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … we're gonna get one to Blue Lake one day, and then I guess one to, uh, I don't know, San Francisco.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, that's what they say. It'll be probably not in our lifetime, but-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well, it's a great-

Wesley Chesbro: It's a great dream, and I, I'm all for it.

Scott Hammond: They'll get started. Hey, Wesley, appreciate your service. Thank you for everything you've done for, uh-

Wesley Chesbro: Thanks for inviting me

Scott Hammond: … the county, and are doing.

Wesley Chesbro: Thanks for inviting me.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hope you, hope to see you soon, and, and thank you again.

Wesley Chesbro: Well, thank you.

Scott Hammond: All right. Have a good day.