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A certain local blogger will be rushed to the hospital upon seeing this image; could someone call ahead and inform the medical staff that we're talking about a Tehama County ex-cop , not a McKinleyville ex-pot doc ? ( h/t J.K.)

enough.America's Most Stoned City: Today's Daily Beast - the 4-20 edition - includes a survey of "America's Most Stoned Cities." Guess who's No. 1. No, it's not Arcata. Criteria? Regular Users: 11.3% Pot Culture: 10 out of 10 Arrests per 100,000 residents: 431 NORML chapter?:

Ladies & Gents, Marcy B.!: The California Journalism Education Coalition recently named the Journal's Marcy Burstiner -- she hates it when we call her that -- "Journalism Educator of the Year." Burstiner received her crown at Hearst Castle, appropriately

So reads one of the many picket signs on display at the county courthouse this afternoon as a mass of Humboldt Tea Party Patriots gathered for one of many tax day rallies nationwide. Our man Andrew Goff is in the field and submitted this vid of the launch.

Goff estimated the crowd at approximately 250. Some pics:

This probably means nothing, but it's amusing nonetheless: Last night at the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee meeting, Eureka Mayor/candidate for 4th District Supervisor Virginia Bass sought to distance herself from conservatives by professing her support for same-sex couples and her opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, note the "This little piggie" sign on the left here.

And note what it was written on.

And in a quiet, possibly even unnoticed show of counter-protest, former Arcata City Councilman Dave Meserve crunched some numbers:

And finally, a statement upon which we can all agree:

The common wisdom these days goes like this: Legalization of marijuana will likely reduce Humboldt County's cash crop industry to ashes (unless we get creative ). 

Well, according to a story today from The California Report , the bottom may be falling out of the pot market regardless of its legal status. A glut of product seems to be sending wholesale prices into the basement, near that ratty old Doritos-dusted couch. Here, take a listen:

In an unorthodox meeting flooded with eager contenders and curious onlookers, The Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee tonight agreed to endorse incumbent Bonnie Neely in the race for 4th District county supervisor but could not reach the two-thirds threshold required to officially support candidates in several other key June 8 races, including 5th District supervisor and District Attorney.

"We're a victim of our own success," said HCDCC Chair Milt Boyd, referencing the unusually large number of Democratic contenders vying for endorsements. With 25 voting members on the committee, the magic number for endorsement was 17. After listening to each candidate give a four-minute presentation -- followed in most cases by two minutes of q-and-a -- the committee dismissed the candidates, then reconvened to cast their votes. (This without debate, to the disappointment of several in attendance including a noticeably annoyed Shane Brinton, Arcata City Councilman and staunch Paul Hagen supporter.)

Most notably, incumbent DA Paul Gallegos failed to earn the Democratic seal of approval (in a crowded field of four Democratic nominees), garnering just 10 yea votes to 11 nays and four abstentions. Hagen also fell short with four yeas, 16 nays. Allison Jackson garnered eight yeas and 13 nays, while Kathleen Bryson failed to even earn a motion for consideration.

Fourth District challenger Virginia Bass faced skepticism about her Democratic bona fides (she recently changed parties) while Eureka City Councilman Jeff Leonard earned polite applause but apparently little in the way of serious consideration. (Neely earned this endorsement with 18 yeas before the other candidates could be considered.)

In the 5th District race, Pat Higgins fell short (12 yeas, nine nays) as did Patrick Cleary (11 yeas, 11 nays).

The only other candidates to earn endorsements after facing the committee were Assessor hopeful John Brooks (17 yeas, four nays) and Auditor-Controller contender Joseph Mellett (who's the Deputy A-C and thus far unopposed).

Candidates for state and national office fared better despite being absent. The HCDCC agreed to endorse longtime First District U.S. Congress incumbent Mike Thompson (24 yeas), as well as First District State Assemblyman incumbent Wesley Chesbro (unanimous!) and State Senate hopeful Noreen Evans (19 yeas, two nays).

Unnamed sources have informed the Journal that  Times-Standard City Editor James Faulk will step down from the number two position in the newsroom and return to reporter duty starting Monday, April 19.

The decision reportedly was made by Faulk himself for personal reasons. In moving into the cops-and-courts beat he'll replace former reporter/"Fat Guy" colleague Chris Durant, who recently departed the daily to launch his own publishing empire . Sources say the T-S has yet to line up a replacement for the city editor desk.

Times-Standard Managing Editor Kimberly Wear declined to comment. (Oh, and for disclosure's sake I should mention that I used to work with Faulk, Wear, Durant, et al. Good people all.)

[Image from Faulk's Facebook profile.]

UPDATED, with link to survey results.

Though he's currently touring colleges in western Siberia, College of the Redwoods President/Superintendent Jeff Marsee appears to be taking the CR revolt seriously.

Last week, at a heated Board of Trustees meeting, union employees delivered a vote of no confidence in the Board, citing the removal from the CR Web site of hundreds of employee comments gathered during a survey by consulting firm Noel-Levitz. In a letter from Russia, Marsee begrudgingly reversed that action by announcing that the comments will be put back online. (Links to the survey results here .)

The embattled head of CR struck a conciliatory -- if not quite apologetic -- note in the letter, saying, "As I observe from afar, and reflect from within, I recognize that I have been unsuccessful in helping each of us resolve our differences through normal discussion and debate."

Read the rest of his letter below.

I further recognize that each of us, including myself, must assume some responsibility for this failing. We all must learn how to work together to resolve issues collegially and leave behind any process that in any way resembles a conflict-oriented approach. We need to do this for our students, for our community, and for each other. I, like you, have committed myself to the College of the Redwoods, to do all that I can, in concert with you, to weather these hard times and move us forward to serve our students and community. I pledge this commitment to you. Please allow me to present my perspective on the matter of the survey posting.

The raw CESS responses were not removed from the web site to hide results from the study. I always intended to share with the college community all the results of the study as part of the process for creating action plans for improvement. The reason the initial data and comments were removed from the web site was simply because the data had not been analyzed by Noel-Levitz and the summary comments had not been sorted by theme or topic. Further, we were advised by Noel-Levitz that posting raw results without analysis or context was counter-productive to the intended goals of the survey project. However, and despite the advice received from Noel-Levitz, I have asked Dr. Marjorie Carson to post the raw data survey results on the College web site in the accreditation section. I continue to believe that it would have been preferable to have released the results of the survey after the Noel-Levitz analysis was completed. Nonetheless, I now believe that it is more important for the health and well being of our college community to not wait for the analysis.

I truly regret that this unfortunate chain of events has created so much angst for so many of you. We must reverse the painful course we now seem to be on and return to a path of open communication and mutual collaboration. I sincerely look forward to restarting our positive efforts to resolve our differences through active listening and collegial discourse when I return from my Fulbright travel. I have learned much while participating in this extraordinary opportunity in Russia. I look forward to sharing what I've learned with you when I return.

Sincerely,

Jeff Marsee

 

... along with Assemblymember Noreen Evans, our (all-but-certain) next state senator. They're here to talk about the state budget crisis, cutbacks and Humboldt State University's economic impact on the local community.

Assemblymember Evans and Senate President Pro Tempore Steinberg to Meet with Humboldt State University Officials

Roundtable Discussion on Economic Benefits and Jobs from Investments in Higher Education

ARCATA - State Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) and Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) will meet with Humboldt State University officials tomorrow to discuss the economic multiplier effects of state investments in higher education.

This year, Governor Schwarzenegger proposed another round of budget cuts, and Senate and Assembly Democrats are looking for ways to avoid the most devastating cuts.  Senator Steinberg and Assemblymember Evans are particularly concerned with the Governor's proposals to cut funding from the state's colleges and universities because those cuts will have an immediate impact on jobs and the economies of communities surrounding college campuses as well as a long term impact on the economic future of the state.

Because of Humboldt State University's presence as one of the preeminent economic engines of the North Coast, these legislative leaders are interested in learning what university officials know about their campus' impact on the local economy.

WHO: Assemblymember Noreen Evans, Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg and Humboldt State University Officials

WHAT: Roundtable Discussion on Economic Benefits of California Investments in Higher Education

WHERE: Humboldt State University: University Center Banquet Room

WHEN: 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 9, 2010

We in the North Coast Journal editorial department don't have much to do with the production of our annual Menu of Menus restaurant directory. We just use the living Hell out of it like everyone else.

Good news! The 2010 edition is just about to hit the streets, and it's an 88-page behemoth. This is, far and away, your best guide to dining, fine or otherwise, wherever you are in Humboldt County. These suckers sold out quick last year, and Humboldt County was forced to go menu-less for several months until we got them reprinted. So when you see one around in the next few days, grab it, take it home, treasure it.

Big ups to our colleagues in the production department and the sales department for outdoing themselves yet again on this thing.