Category: Weird

The use of compost from human bodies on public parkland has a Central California conservation group facing criticism.

The soil has been used at Sumner Peck Ranch, a 76-acre site north of Fresno overseen by the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust. Its calendar lists events including school field trips and u-pick citrus and blueberry seasons.

The human compost has put the trust at odds with the San Joaquin River Conservancy, a group with which it has partnered in the past.

The conservancy’s chairperson, Kasey Austin-Tibbets, and Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, who’s on the group’s board, were among officials who held a news conference Thursday, March 5, in Fresno to decry the use of the compost, the Fresno Bee reported.

Bredefeld called the action illegal, without specifying what regulation he believes it violates, and implied it is environmentally harmful.

Sharon Weaver, executive director of the trust that oversees Sumner Peck, told the Bee her group believes the practice and the partnership with Earth Funerals is environmentally beneficial. “It’s very disappointing that they are trying to suggest that we’re doing something harmful to the river,” she said.

Weaver said the compost has been used since last year in a field that is away from the river and from agricultural areas.

The soil material is obtained from Earth Funerals, a company that, as an alternative to burial or cremation, converts human remains into what it calls “a nutrient-rich soil that is ready to be returned to nature.”

Families of clients whose bodies are composted can claim some or all of the resulting soil; what is left is used in the company’s two conservation projects, at the San Joaquin River site and on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

At Thursday’s press conference, Bredefeld implied the practice runs afoul of Assembly Bill 351, under which “natural organic reduction” will become legal and regulated in California in 2027. Earth Funeral’s website states that clients in states where natural organic reduction is not yet a sanctioned option can still legally use the company’s facilities, in Washington and Nevada.

Sumner Peck Ranch was acquired by the River Parkway Trust in 2020. The winemaker Solitary Cellars leases the buildings on the land, which are used for wine-tasting, live music and wedding facilities.

A Eureka motel has been closed after two women were found dead a week apart in the same room, the city’s police said.

The deaths happened Feb. 21 and Feb. 26, said a police news release issued Thursday, March 5. It did not name the motel, but the Eureka Times-Standard identified it as the Lamplighter Inn, on Broadway (Highway 101) at Eureka’s south end, and published a photo of the motel’s rooms cordoned off by red hazard tape.

In each of the two incidents, emergency workers responded to a report of two unconscious people in the room. And in each case, a woman was found dead and her companion was taken to a hospital, the police said.

During the second incident, Humboldt Bay Fire personnel on the scene displayed unspecified signs of carbon monoxide exposure, the police said, and a monitoring device registered elevated levels of that toxic gas. The room did not have a carbon monoxide detector.

The motel was ordered by Eureka’s code enforcement division on Tuesday, March 3, to remain closed until the heating and ventilation systems of all rooms have been inspected and carbon monoxide detectors installed.

The women who died have not been publicly identified; one was 36 and the other 37, the police said. The surviving person in the Feb. 26 incident was reported to be in critical condition when admitted to the hospital.

The emergency calls were initially described as being for suspected drug overdoses, but a police spokesperson told the news site Lost Coast Outpost that there was no evidence in the room supporting that conclusion.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas that can be emitted by malfunctioning fuel-burning heaters. Early symptoms of poisoning include headaches, dizziness and nausea.

OAKLAND — A man accused of breaking into Oakland police headquarters Sunday night roamed several floors and stole a police radio before officers found him inside the building and arrested him, authorities said.

The 57-year-old was charged Tuesday with second degree commercial burglary and vandalism, according to court records. Prosecutors say the vandalism charge stems from him allegedly throwing a brick through a glass security door to get inside the building.

Authorities said the man broke the glass door about 7:15 p.m. Sunday at the six-story building in the 600 block of Washington Street, part of the police administration complex that spans Washington Street, Broadway, and Sixth and Seventh streets.

The portion of the building he entered once housed municipal courts and county offices but is now used by several police department units, including the training section.

An officer returning from a homicide scene discovered the break-in, prompting an extensive search of the building.

Before officers found the man on the third floor about 8:20 p.m., he had searched offices on several floors and taken a police radio from one of them, authorities said. Police said he did not know how to use the radio and still had it in his possession when officers arrested him.

Nothing else was reported stolen.

The man declined to give a statement to police, authorities said.

Court records show the man has three prior felony convictions: a 1989 Alameda County case involving transportation of a controlled substance and two Illinois convictions — one in 1991 for being a felon in possession of a firearm and another in 1995 for aggravated battery causing great bodily injury. He served a prison sentence for the firearm conviction and was placed on probation in the other cases.

The burglary was the second break-in at a prominent Oakland government building in two weeks.

Over Presidents Day weekend, a man entered City Hall, took keys to an SUV assigned to Mayor Barbara Lee and drove off with the vehicle from a city garage. The SUV was later recovered in Vallejo and the suspect was arrested and charged.