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8:30 a.m. Audubon Society Field Trip See Event Description

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8:30 a.m. Alzheimer’s Resource Center Volunteer Training See Event Description

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9 a.m. Arcata Farmers' Market Arcata Plaza

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9 a.m. Speakers' Symposium College of the Redwoods

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9 a.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens Foundation Speakers’ Symposium College of the Redwoods

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9 a.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens' Speakers' Symposium College of the Redwoods

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9 a.m. Fall Rummage Sale Arcata United Methodist Church

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9:30 a.m. AAUW Meeting See Event Description

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9:30 a.m. Little River State Beach Restoration See Event Description

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9:30 a.m. Sierra Club Headwaters Hike See Event Description

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10 a.m. Lanphere Dunes Guided Walk See Event Description

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10 a.m. 5th Annual Synergy Fair Arcata Community Center

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10 a.m. Go Green and Boost Your Bottom Line Wharfinger Building

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11 a.m. Sustaining Excellence and Enthusiasm in Health, Relationships and Work Carlo Theater (Dell'Arte)

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noon KEET's Kids Club Morris Graves Museum of Art

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1:30 p.m. Humboldt County Historical Society Humboldt County Library

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2 p.m. Arcata Marsh Field Trip Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Interpretive Center

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4 p.m. Woodside Preschool’s 36th Wine and Ale Tasting Gala Adorni Recreation Center

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4:30 p.m. Harvest Dinner and Bazaar Humboldt Grange

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5 p.m. A Toast to Music Christ Episcopal Church

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5:30 p.m. Elvis and the Hound Dogs + Stolen Taxi Trinidad Town Hall

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6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds Chapala Cafe

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6 p.m. Arts Alive! Various Locations

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6 p.m. Day of the Dead Exhibition Ink People Center for the Arts

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6 p.m. Bar None 10th Anniversary Eureka Labor Temple

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6 p.m. Randy Spicer Piante Gallery

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6 p.m. Gallery Open for Arts Alive! Four Paths Gallery and Studio

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6:30 p.m. ShinBone (Blues R&B) Eureka Theater

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7 p.m. Mike Craighead and Sari Baker Old Town Coffee & Chocolates

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7 p.m. Harvest Concert Arcata Presbyterian Church

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7 p.m. 2 Left Feet Dance Project Redwood Raks World Dance Studio

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7:30 p.m. Joe & Me Cafe Mokka

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7:30 p.m. Cyrano de Begerac Eureka High School Auditorium

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7:30 p.m. Torch Song Summit Eureka Women's Club

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7:30 p.m. Jeff DeMark and the LaPatinas Westhaven Center for the Arts

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8 p.m. Stones in His Pockets Arcata Playhouse

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8 p.m. Humboldt Bay Brass Band Fulkerson Recital Hall at HSU

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9 p.m. Synergy Six Rivers Brewery

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9 p.m. Arts Alive! with Akaboom Sound Pearl Lounge

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9 p.m. Tempest WAVE @ blue lake casino

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9 p.m. Back In The Daze Dance Party Central Station Cocktail Lounge

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9 p.m. Swingin' Country Band (country) Bear River Casino

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9 p.m. The Zygoats + Alder Camp (rock) The Lil' Red Lion

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9 p.m. DJ Knutz (funk) Muddy's Hot Cup

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10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines

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10 p.m. DJ Icy Hot Aunty Mo's Lounge

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10 p.m. These United States (indie folk) Humboldt Brews

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11 p.m. Hellbound Glory The Alibi Lounge and Restaurant

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previous columns

July 2, 2009

Independence Days

Here's some tips for celebrating the Fourth of July all year ’round

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June 25, 2009

Water World

Humboldt eco-tech hits New York City rivers

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June 18, 2009

Town Holler

Planning commission meetings: Like karaoke minus the music, liquor and fun

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  • Eddy Lepp and one of his supporters. Photo by Emily Hobelmann Eddy Lepp and one of his supporters. Photo by Emily Hobelmann
Pot Hero

Pot Hero

They gathered to party uber-grower Eddy Lepp off to prison

By Emily Hobelmann

It seemed the whole NorCal pot activist community had gathered -- not to mention patients, musicians, families and community members. The group smoked, danced and sweated in the July Upper Lake heat to live reggae acts and some weed-loving Mendo hip hop as well. Donations for the Eddy Lepp cause were collected, and a rainbow of canna-friendly publications and products were to be found amongst the partygoers.

The Reverend himself appeared, after his long interview with the CNBC crew. He was dressed in baggy rasta-gear, supporting himself on a cane and the arms of well-wishers and fans. He seemed frail; one could expect that his spirit and body would be damaged from the stress he has put himself through.

But when the Lake County sheriffs came to bust up the party for being an unlawful gathering, Lepp laid the smack down and sent those cops home with their tails between their legs. The crowd chanted and cheered for him as he walked proudly back up to his home after dealing with the interference. The incident definitely gave a needed boost to the stoney Independence Day gathering.

So what was the deal? Well, if you follow the news in the cannabis community, then the Reverend Eddy Lepp has certainly come on your radar screen a number of times in recent years. Some might argue he's the renegade medical marijuana growing badass of our 215-time. He became a Rastafarian and a minister of the Universal Life Church to defend his right to grow on spiritual grounds. He founded the Ministry of Cannabis and Rastafari on his large Lake County property -- right along Highway 20 -- offering patients and caregivers the chance to have personal plots of weed on his land. Then he planted 20,000-plus pot plants right in front of everyone. Fields of weed, waving in the wind, growing the way weed should be grown: out in the open, out in the sunshine and with good intentions.

Well, you can't tempt the Man like that and expect him to leave you alone. This May he was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

But what's a grower to do? Residents are sick of all those growers out there secretly using homes in their ’hood to grow pot for whatever reason, judging by the community outrage every time one burns down. They're fed up with the covered windows, the homes populated by large, snarling pit bulls instead of people and the burglaries and violence associated with the many vacant, money- and weed-storing homes behind our Redwood Curtain.

Certainly the complaints are valid. The big money associated with big weed has led to community vice. But did you ever think, for a second, when you were shaking your fist at the dark, loudly humming house with the car-less driveway across the street, that people wanting to grow herb don't really have too many options in terms of where they can plant their crop?

Who do you know who's just growing bud right out in the open, with their middle finger raised up high toward the man? Probably a few people. But for every daring, in-your-face grower, there's a dozen who are trying to quietly work within the industry to whatever end.

Needless to say, Lepp got busted and tried, and received the minimum sentence under the law. His surrender date was July 6, 2009, so by the time this paper hits the streets, Lepp is sure to be behind bars. Being that Humboldt has a vested interest in all things weed the Journal seized the opportunity to attend Lepp's final hurrah as a free man: a "Freedom Party" held on a most fitting day, the Fourth of July. The shindig went down at Lepp's Lake County estate, the very place where so many bud plants were hacked down by the feds.

Sitting amongst joint-laden "Freedom Fighters" who bobbed their heads to the bass-heavy beats, one could easily recognize each attendee's desire to be a part of the fight for cannabis rights. One guest to the estate, a "traveler" named Josie conjured up the age-old argument of weed being a harmless substance to ingest. "Have you ever seen anyone on pot flip out and shoot anybody?" she asked. Regardless of being unfamiliar with the details of Lepp's case, she thought her support was necessary. It seems she's heard enough in her lifetime to oppose sending someone to prison for growing pot regardless of the quantity involved.

Lepp's loud mouth and daring tactics have won him some haters, and it is known that some folks have written him off as money-loving wanna-be cult leader who got what he asked for. You just wouldn't know it as the smiling, cheerful group passed around steamrollers and volcano bags. The partygoers just seemed happy to have a real life person to stand behind in this fight against the criminalization of marijuana.

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