Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Frustrated Trail Advocates Launch Rogue Experiment on the Dunes
Posted by Ryan Burns on Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 3:12 PM
The group was attempting a bit of guerrilla dune restoration, using an unauthorized “bio-mimicry” technique they’d learned about online. The slats, the men explained, are supposed to mimic dune vegetation by catching wind-blown sand and allowing it to accumulate at their bases. Periodically, as the sand level rises, the slats must be lifted up a few inches. Before too long (a year or two, maybe) you’ve got a rebuilt dune. That’s the plan, anyway. But it’s not the official plan.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Phillip Smith-Hanes, the County's Chief Administrative Officer, is Job Hunting
Posted by Ryan Burns on Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 11:22 AM
So it will likely be a disappointment to learn that the county's chief administrative officer since December 2009 is one of five finalists for the job of Coconino County manager, according to the Arizona Daily Sun.
In case your knowledge of Arizona County names is as bad as ours, Coconino County encompasses the state's north-central region, including the cities of Flagstaff and Sedona. Its population is nearly identical to ours, and with Grand Canyon National Park within its borders, it may be one of the few counties in the U.S. that can rival Humboldt for natural beauty.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Oyster Fest: Mellower, but not a Bust
Posted by Grant Scott-Goforth on Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 11:28 AM
By noon, Oyster Fest looked positively placid. Not empty, by any means, but no beer lines (!), and more elbow room than a typical Saturday morning farmers’ market.
By all accounts the morning was quieter than years prior.
A local security guard named Annie manned the entrance to Willow and Libation, one of several walkthroughs open to the outside of the plaza. There was some speculation this week about the trickiness of keeping the plaza's entrances fenced off. Annie said the crowds were tame, especially compared to last year. She hadn’t had anyone try sneak through yet. “I don’t think anyone’s drunk enough yet to be that ballsy.”
Journal Editor Carrie Peyton Dahlberg tested another entryway — the back side of Jacoby’s Storehouse — but was politely turned away without a wristband.
Friday, June 14, 2013
H2-Woes: Klamath Ranchers Told to Shut Off Water
Posted by Grant Scott-Goforth on Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 3:45 PM
It’s getting hot on the Upper Klamath. This week, the Oregon Water Resources Department began telling ranchers to shut off irrigation; their rights to Klamath basin water are superseded by tribal rights.
Klamath tribes fought for decades to determine their rights to Klamath River water were the oldest, and won earlier this year. They were joined in calling for increased flows by the Bureau of Reclamation, which runs a federal irrigation project, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as the AP’s Klamath guy Jeff Barnard has reported.
The tense political climate is not unfamiliar. Tribes were granted higher river flows in 2001, despite protest from irrigators in the upper basin. The next year, the roles reversed. The lowered flow in 2002, combined with a large run of salmon, led to the death of 33,000 fish. It was one of the biggest fish kills (or fish die-off, as the Bureau of Reclamation prefers to call it) the U.S. had ever seen.
Welcome, Jennifer
Posted by Carrie Peyton Dahlberg on Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 3:16 PM
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill, who has written for the Journal about everything from redevelopment to zombie Thanksgiving wrestling to her grandfather’s miso soup, joins our staff this week.
She grew up in New York State and earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Columbia University in New York City. Jennifer was a book editor, food blogger and professor of English in Japan before moving to Humboldt in 2011 with her husband, Eureka native Jason Marak, and their two young children.
She’ll be helping with editing here at the Journal, as well as writing about food, the arts, and well … for anyone who takes on zombie wrestling, the sky’s the limit.
Oyster Hysteria Roundup
Posted by Ryan Burns on Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 12:16 PM
Attendance numbers are still an open question for tomorrow’s Oyster Fest on the Arcata Plaza, but when it comes to community engagement, this sucker’s already a blockbuster.
Ever since the Journal's Bob Doran broke news of this year’s $10 admission fee, the community has been atwitter (and, uh, Twittering, Facebooking, etc.) with opinions, questions, concerns and rants. Now, less than 24 hours before the controversial gates open, things have reached a fever pitch.
Nice Wheels
Posted by Grant Scott-Goforth on Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 11:49 AM
To the giddy delight of every passing kid in Old Town (and a few grown adults, including this writer and a pair of excited female whistlers) Humboldt Bay Fire flexed a little muscle this morning.
Pulling up in their dazzling ladder tiller truck, the boys suited up for some rooftop training. The star: The 100-foot ladder they extended to the rooftops over Third Street.
After giving a close-up demonstration to one toddling onlooker, they packed up and were gone — just as the TV news crew arrived.
This video is a rare example of when watching someone descend a ladder is exciting.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Hodgson Issues Call for Supervisor Challengers in KHUM Interview
Posted by Ryan Burns on Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 2:36 PM
Elaborating on her op-ed piece in this week's issue, Journal Publisher Judy Hodgson took to the airwaves this afternoon, telling KHUM's Mike Dronkers that the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors' recent vote to replace the guiding principles in the general plan update was "one of the more blatant power grabs that I've seen in all my years watching the Board of Supervisors. ... It was absolutely outrageous, and people should be angry."
She also expressed anger over the new principles' assertion that landowners should be "honored." "Why shoud we honor landowners?" she asked. "Shouldn't renters be honored? Everybody who rents in Humboldt County should be looking around and saying 'Wait a minute, am I a second class citizen?'" As for a course of action, Hodgson had a suggestion: "We ought to find good people who are willing to run against ... [5th District Supervisor] Ryan Sundberg and [4th District Supervisor] Virginia Bass."
Here's the full interview:
Hezekiah Allen, Assembly Candidate, Launches Petition Asking Supes to Revisit Guiding Principles [UPDATED]
Posted by Ryan Burns on Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 11:36 AM
Hezekiah Allen, an Arcata resident who recently announced his run for the 2nd District seat in the state Assembly, has launched a change.org petition urging the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors to reconsider actions it took on June 3 — namely, swapping out a long-established and publicly vetted set of guiding principles in the county's general plan update for a brand new set developed behind closed doors and released by Supervisor Estelle Fennell less than four days earlier.
Allen was among those who spoke at the June 3 meeting. He thanked Fennell and fellow Supervisor Rex Bohn for the new list of principles, saying that they "honor diversity." But he added that, "We need to take a little more time to balance between these two lists. ... I don’t appreciate the winner-take-all political culture."
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Scary Snake Story - UPDATED with a photo
Posted by Heidi Walters on Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 3:07 PM
Last Saturday afternoon, up at her uncle's place in Kneeland, 8-year-old Marley Bones (pronounced "Bo-NEZ") was engaged in a favorite pastime -- trying to catch small wriggling wildlife -- when something caught her. It was brief -- a quick, sharp fang-jab on the knuckle of her right pointing finger.
"Marley's just an adventurer," said her mom, Colleen Bones, earlier today by phone. "She was lifting up all these rocks where all the lizards hide, and she was reaching for a blue-belly lizard when a snake she didn't know was there bit her."
It turned out to be a baby rattlesnake. They rushed her St. Joseph's Hospital where she was treated with anti-venom. Then the ordeal really began.
"All of a sudden her body came into a red rash, and she was having a hard time breathing," Colleen Bones said. "It was just so awful and it got so intense so fast. They realized she was allergic to the anti-venom."
Her bit hand started swelling up and her finger turned white. Colleen Bones said Marley was given something to counter the reaction. The hospital decided to fly her to U.C. Davis Children's Hospital.
