A Humboldt County politicianwith a Southern heart

Jessica Cejnar and Kaci PoorT H E T I M E S -S TA N DA R D

When Sara Mitchell Parsons talked, peoplelistened.

“She loved telling stories,” her stepson TimParsons said. “She was losing her hearing, butin a way, that was a good thing because shecould just keep on talking.”

Remembered as Humboldt County’s firstfemale county supervisor and a dedicated civilrights activist, Sara Parsons, who died Mon-day at the age of 99, lived a life worth hearingabout.

In the 1960s, she fought for civil rights onthe Atlanta Board of Education, rubbingshoulders with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.,and Coretta Scott King.

When she moved to California in the 1970sshe took Humboldt by storm, serving up gritsfor breakfast and hosting dinners with a groupof politicians that came to be known as “theArcata Mafia.”

She even tried to talk Jimmy Carter out ofrunning for president, her stepson said.

It was Sara Parsons’ can-do attitude thatgave Assemblyman Wes Chesbro his start inpolitics.

Chesbro was in his early 20s when he man-aged Sara Parsons’ bid to represent HumboldtCounty’s 3rd District — about 80 percent ofwhich includes Arcata. One of Parsons’ great-est challenges during her 1976 campaign wasconvincing residents in the liberal collegetown that, despite her Southern upbringing,she was as progressive as they were, Chesbrosaid.

“During a conversation, her husband wassitting there and said, ‘Well, there is that letterfrom Dr. King,’” Chesbro said, adding that shewas the first desegregationist elected to theAtlanta Board of Education. “She was a closepersonal friend with Dr. Martin Luther Kingand Coretta Scott King, and it turned out to bea letter thanking her for all her hard work tointegrate the Atlanta school system.”

Parsons, who published her memoirs,

“From Southern Wrongs to Civil Rights” in2007, served on the Atlanta school board dur-ing the 1960s, beginning in 1962. Her opposi-tion to segregation resulted in active threatsfrom white supremacists, Chesbro said.

“We convinced her to let us use it in thecampaign,” he said. “We had 20-somethingyear old college students — along with manypeople older than them — recognize what agreat leader she was.”

When Parsons became 3rd District supervi-sor, Humboldt County was going throughturmoil of its own. According to formerSupervisor John Woolley, who met Parsonsthrough her husband Tom, Parsons took herseat at a time when Humboldt County’s once-booming timber industry began to decline.The old growth logging era had peaked in the1960s, he said. And by the end of the 1970s,Humboldt’s population shrank by about 5percent as people left the county to seek otherjobs, Woolley said.

The expansion of Redwood National Park,which had been established seven years priorto Parsons’ term, was also something supervi-sors wrangled with, Woolley said.

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Sara Mitchell Parsons wasborn in Canton, Ga., in1912, and graduated fromAtlanta Girl’s High in 1930.After high school, Parsonscompleted two years of pub-lic affairs course work atGeorgia Evening School(now Georgia State Univer-sity), Emory University,Humboldt State University,College of the Redwoods,and Mills College. After col-lege, Parsons began alengthy career in publicservice as a member of theAtlanta Board of Educationfrom 1961 to 1968. Aftermoving to California, shewas the first woman electedto the Humboldt CountyBoard of Supervisors, repre-senting the 3rd District forone term beginning in 1977.From 1977 until 1980, Par-sons served as a board repre-sentative for several differentorganizations, including thecounty Mental Health Advi-sory Board, the JuvenileDelinquency Commission,the CETA Advisory Board,the Redwood Region Eco-nomic Development Com-mission, the CourthouseBeautification Committee,the Eureka Chamber ofCommerce, and the Con-vention and Visitors Bureau.

From 1978 until 1980,Parsons was the governor’s

appointee to the CaliforniaSolar/Cal Committee as wellas vice-chair of the Employ-ment Steering Committee ofthe National Association ofCounties from 1979 to 1980.Parsons was also elected bythe Democratic Party ofNorthern California as adelegate to the NationalDemocratic Convention inNew York City in 1980.

In addition to a career inpolitics, Parsons also partici-pated in various communityservice projects. She servedas president of the NorthFulton High School PTAfrom 1956 to 1958, as amember of the OfficialBoard of the St. JamesMethodist Church from1958 to 1963, and as presi-dent of the Atlanta Leagueof Women Voters from 1958until 1960. She also was avisiting lecturer at EmoryUniversity and was invited

by President Lyndon John-son to the White HouseConference on Education in1965. In the same year, Par-sons was awarded theAtlanta “Good Neighbor ofthe Year” award. Parsonsalso penned the book,“From Southern Wrongs toCivil Rights,” that chroniclesher transformation into acivil rights activist and herfriendship with Rev. MartinLuther King, Jr. and CorettaScott King.

— Georgia State UniversityLibrary special collections: TheGeorgia Women’s MovementOral History Project

THE LIFE OF SARA MITCHELL PARSONS“I felt sorry for

my husbandbecause he hadmarried a sweetSouthern girl.

And I turned outto be this civilrights activist,

flaming feminist.”— Sara Mitchell Parsonson the toll her civil rights

work took on her personal life

The Georgia Women’s Movement Oral History Project has transcripts of interviews conductedwith Sara Mitchell Parsons. In them, she describes how her position on the Atlanta Board ofEducation in the 1960s introduced her to civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., withwhom she remained in contact for a number of years. Her main focus during this time was theintegration of schools and she describes visiting black and white schools, and seeing veryclearly that “separate but equal” was not working. She goes on to discuss the contentious integration of the Atlanta League of Women Voters.

To view the transcripts, visit www.library.gsu.edu/spcoll/pages/pages.asp?ldID=105&guideID=534&ID=3409

ON THE WEB:

Parsons

RememberingSara Parsons

Commission votes against lowincome rezoning approvalRezoning project will nowgo before supervisors

Donna TamT H E T I M E S -S TA N DA R D

A building moratorium in HumboldtCounty may be on the horizon if the Hum-boldt County Board of Supervisors agreeswith its planning commission.

After another evening of comments fromdisgruntled residents and industry represen-tatives, the Humboldt County PlanningCommission declared the planning depart-ment’s plan for low income rezoning wasinadequate.

The commission recommendation to turndown the plan based on a lack of time toreview materials and insufficient informa-

tion — as described by Commissioner LindaDisiere — was voted for 3 - 2, with Commis-sioners Mel Kreb and Mary Gearheart dis-senting. The recommendation will go beforethe supervisors on July 26 for discussion.

JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY

SHAUN WALKER/THE TIMES-STANDARD

Friends Sara Krause of Eureka, bottom, Annie Sherfield of Eureka, and Emily Stratmanof Arcata, all 15, wait at the front of the line for the new Harry Potter movie at BroadwayCinema on Thursday afternoon. They had been there since about 9:30 a.m. for the mid-night premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” Distributor Warner Bros.says “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” took in $43.6 million in 26 countriesoutside the United States on its first day Wednesday.

SHAUN WALKER/THE TIMES-STANDARD

County Courthouse flags fly at half-stafffor Sara Mitchell Parsons on Thursday. Shewas Humboldt County’s first female dis-trict supervisor and a civil rights activist.

■ See PARSONS/A8

■ See REZONING/A7

The Humboldt Planning Commissionvoted down a plan for multifamily rezoning,recommending to the Humboldt CountyBoard of Supervisors that it is inadequate.The supervisors will make their final deci-sion at a July 26 meeting. If the supervisorsdon’t accept the project, the county couldface a temporary hold on issuing any devel-opment permits

AT A GLANCE:

HWMA agrees to Willits contractAuthority to pursuepurchase of Samoaprocessing plant

Jessica CejnarT H E T I M E S -S TA N DA R D

Even though it agreed topursue the purchase of theSamoa recycling center, theHumboldt Waste Manage-ment Authority entered intoa contract that would send itsrecycling to MendocinoCounty.

The authority boardThursday voted 4-1-1 infavor to discuss the purchaseof the Samoa ProcessingPlant with the Arcata Com-munity Recycling Center,which opened the plant in2007. Sherman Schapiro,Blue Lake’s authority repre-sentative, dissented. RichardLeonard, the alternate repre-sentative from Rio Dell,abstained. According toSchapiro, the Blue Lake CityCouncil felt the ACRCSamoa purchase was toolinked to the Mendocino

County contract.At a June meeting, former

HWMA member DaveMeserve suggested theauthority purchase theSamoa facility as an alterna-tive to a five-year recyclingmemorandum of under-standing with Solid Waste ofWillits. Despite moving for-ward with purchase negotia-tions Thursday, the authorityvoted 4-2 in favor of theWillits contract. Arcata rep-resentative Michael Winkler

■ See HWMA/A7