Measure Madness
Sanctuary, statue and tax revenues — what’s at stake on your November ballot
Cover Story
Measure Madness
While it’s always the candidates that generate the most buzz, there’s a lot at stake in Humboldt County on Nov. 6 beyond who ultimately ends up taking seats on city councils and the harbor district. A total of eight local ballot measures will decide tens of millions of dollars of local funding decades into the…
Cookies from the Burrito Place
Amigas Burritos has long had a loyal following, one that’s hanging in with the change of ownership since Jorge Bravo, who worked there some 12 years, bought it two years ago. Regulars come for the burritos but we’re here for dessert. The saucer-sized cookies in plastic wrap by the register are unremarkable looking but they’re grandma-level…
Nearly 3 Years Later: Stagecoach Road is Back With Some Restrictions
After taking the long way home for nearly three years, residents living along Stagecoach Road north of Trinidad city limits can once again drive over the Mill Creek crossing after Humboldt County Public Works installed a single lane flatcar bridge. The section of road was closed in December of 2015, when record-breaking storms drenched the…
North Coast Night Lights: Milky Way Over Kneeland Snow
I was enwombed in a place of dreamlike comfort and warmth. In the honey hum of perfect slumber, I was suspended in the vibrations of the universe. Dreaming of misty sunbeams and forest floors, and floating like a butterfly. Except … Except the sound of Dr. McCoy’s medical scanner was intruding. It peeled away the…
UPDATE: NWS: Increased Risk of Sneaker Waves Today
The Nation Weather Service has issued a warning about hazardous beach conditions in the region today with surf expected to be in the 9- to 11-foot range and an increased risk of sneaker waves, especially on steep beaches. The warning extends all day, with the highest sneaker wave risk from the morning hours until 11 p.m.…
Residents Raise Water, Design Questions About Scenic Drive Hotel Project
For the second time in less than a month, about 100 local residents filled Trinidad Town Hall on Oct. 15 to ask questions about a large hotel being planned on the bluffs above Scenic Drive by the Trinidad Rancheria. The meeting was co-sponsored by the Trinidad City Council and by the Trinidad Rancheria. All five…
Music Tonight: Wednesday, Oct. 17
Healing Gems are a Los Angeles Latinx sextet that plays a dance-friendly cartoonish mix of tropical and lounge sounds. The band’s Bandcamp page features nothing but net when it comes to dreamy and loveable tunes. You can share in those songs tonight at the Miniplex at 9 p.m. The ticket price and possible openers, if…
Hospital Cuts, Awkward Railroad Talks, Shelter Funding on Tap in Eureka
Members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers are expected to ask the Eureka City Council tonight to press St. Joseph Hospital officials to reverse course on the elimination of 35 positions and call a public meeting on patient care issues, including staffing levels. News of the layoffs, which the union has described as retaliatory,…
Off on a Tangent: An interview with Steven Wright
If you don’t know his name, you know his visage and presence. His cadence and playful monotony have made him a stalwart of the standup comedy scene for nearly four decades. If you’ve somehow missed all of the last 40 years of standup, you likely still know him from any one of his multiple major…
State Water Board Holding SoHum Cannabis Compliance Workshop
The State Water Board is holding an enrollment workshop at the Mateel Community Center in Redway until 3 p.m. today and there will be another held in the same place and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 30. Over the last month, hundreds of residents in Humboldt County (most of them in Southern…
McKinley Statue Vandalized
The statue of President William McKinley was doused overnight or early this morning with some sort of liquid that left a greenish patina discoloration down the front and back of the figure. The Mad River Union reports the vandalism was discovered by a city worker and has been reported to the Arcata Police Department. The…
Music Tonight: Tuesday, Oct. 16
Very few bands have as dedicated and cult-like an audience as the Grateful Dead and a multitude of adjacent bands encircle Planet Dead like happily humming satellites. Like many great cults, the death of the beloved leader has done nothing to stop the ride and these extra-orbital ancillaries have a built-in audience in quadrants of…
Hoopa Man Arrested After Shot Fired at Drug Task Force Agents
No one was hurt after a Hoopa man allegedly fired a single round Sunday at special agents with the Humboldt County Drug Task Force who were conducting an unspecified investigation at his residence on Airport Road. According to a HCDTF release, Robert Gerald Mastel reportedly fired a shot in the direction of the agents, who…
HumLook: Trains, Boats and Pride
Local photographer Jose Quezada has launched a pair of new websites, HumSport and HumLook, showcasing the work of a team of local photographers. Photographers will be uploading galleries of photos on both sites regularly, showcasing their best images of local sports, cultural events and landscapes. High-resolution downloads of the images are also available for $5 apiece.…
Music Tonight: Monday, Oct. 15
Blondies hosts a free dance-friendly show tonight when local space jam groove band Dan & the Americans lays down a set at 7 p.m. Opening up the night will be a solo set by Diggin Dirt’s singer Zach Alder, which should be an interesting experiment in stripped-down soul.
HumSport: Your Week in Sports Photos
Local photographer Jose Quezada has launched a pair of new websites, HumSport and HumLook, showcasing the work of local photographers. Photographers will be uploading galleries of photos on both sites regularly, showcasing their best images of local sports, cultural events and landscapes. High-resolution downloads of the images are also available for $5 apiece. The Journal…
HumBug: Creepy, Cute and Unusual
Looking closely at more crawling critters than most folks, you’d think I’d get used to them. But there is one critter that still holds a Class 4 creep factor for me: the common centipede. If you could cross a spider and a snake, centipedes would be the result. Flexible, fast and venomous — in their…
Trinidad Rancheria to Host Meeting on Hotel Project
Those concerned about the Trinidad Rancheria’s plans to build a six-story hotel on the bluff above Scenic Drive will have another chance to ask questions at a second public meeting scheduled for tomorrow. People will then have a week to send comments to the Bureau of Indian Affairs before the public comment period on the…
Teen Stabbing Suspect to Be Tried as Juvenile Under Bill Signed by Brown
The murder case against a 15-year-old accused of fatally stabbing another teenage boy in the Ocean View Cemetery on Aug. 9 will continue in the juvenile court system after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law last week that prohibits charging individuals as adults if they were younger than 16 at the time of the accused…
Music Tonight: Sunday, Oct. 14
Molly Tuttle has done more with her quarter-century on the planet than most musicians do in their lifetimes. An extremely accomplished flat-picker and banjoist in the bluegrass tradition, Molly has been making records since she was a child, appeared on A Prairie Home Companion and racked up beaucoup bluegrass awards while putting out an album…
New Yorker Looks at Yurok Tribe’s Carbon-Offset Project
A story on the New Yorker website this week takes a look at the Yurok Tribe’s carbon-offset forest project, which was the first developed under California protocols for the state’s cap-and-trade system back in 2014. According to the story, the project is now the “tribe’s main source of discretionary income,” which has facilitated the purchase…
In-N-Out in the Planning
Like an online dating match leaving breadcrumb text messages, In-N-Out Burger periodically lets us know it’s interested in coming to Humboldt County. Someday. Maybe. And every time, die-hard fans of off-the-menu ordering get worked up only to be put off again. Let’s keep in touch! Things are looking decidedly more committed since The Carrington Co.…
Winds of Change
The Against the Wind Festival is a week-long, pro-peace festival created by local volunteers and featuring art shows, lectures, workshops, music, film and theater, all centered around raising awareness of the danger of nuclear armaments and nuclear war. Events take place Oct. 14-21 around Humboldt County, with most of the happenings at the Arcata Playhouse.…
Music Tonight: Saturday, Oct. 13
There are two free shows tonight at 9 p.m. to ease the strain on your wallet, soothe your soul and give you a chance to just space out or dance — or all of the above, I suppose. Over at the Logger Bar you will find local masters of the Pink Floyd canon Money covering…
Saturday Special
While you are poking around the Lao Oriental Market (2908 E St., Eureka) on a Saturday, rooting through boxes of bitter melon and eggplants both long and golf ball sized, it’s easy to overlook the unmarked stack of a couple dozen paper-wrapped bành mí sandwiches ($5.99). Easy and tragic. Let’s appreciate for a moment the…
Happy Birthday, Redwood National Park
The large former redwood mill site north of Orick was transformed Sunday into party central for Stand for the Redwoods, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Redwoods National Park and 100 years of redwoods conservation and restoration. The Orick mill site, once filled with huge old-growth redwood logs, was purchased in 2013 by Save…
Cena Española for Northcoast Prep
Help send students at Northcoast Preparatory Academy to Spain by enjoying a zesty Spanish dinner prepared by a chef with 20 years of experience in restaurants in Spain at Cena Española on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. at Bayside Community Hall ($30, $20 for ages 11-18, $5 for ages 6-10, free for kids 5…
Music Tonight: Friday, Oct. 12
Bluesy folk trio Lacuna plays an early gig over at the Westhaven Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. (sliding scale $5-$20). The set will include original tunes as well as covers by the likes of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. There’s a good psychedelic showcase happening at the Miniplex tonight when The Low Hums…
Papaya Don’t Preach
Papaya Lounge, the comedic cabaret that packed a lotta punch with audiences last January, returns with more juice Friday and Saturday, Oct. 12-13 from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Arcata Playhouse ($15, $13 students/members). Get ready to have a good time with the fruity folks at the playhouse. Jam-packed with comedy, music, variety and…
The Shining at ATL
Baby, it’s cold outside. Sidle up to the bar at Arcata Theatre Lounge, ask for some bourbon, neat, and settle in for a wintry trip to the mountains with Jack, Wendy and little Danny in The Shining (1980) showing Friday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. at ($5).
Music Tonight: Thursday, Oct. 11
The Armack Orchestra is an amalgamation of players from the Arcata and McKinleyville High School orchestras. This evening at 7:30 p.m. they will be live scoring two classic comedies from the silent film era — Charlie Chaplin’s The Rink and Cops starring Buster Keaton — for your viewing and listening pleasure ($8). There’s a free…
Applauding Artistic Effort
Editor: Beautification efforts have brought class and style to the city of Eureka (“Art in the Streets,” Aug. 23). Utility boxes all over town have become a place where local artists are able to express their creativity. This is a huge step forward for the city, which often looks derelict. Designs have featured nature scenes,…
Venom Has Teeth
Reviews VENOM. As much as I am loath to describe and discuss yet another Marvel movie (where are the emojis on this thing?), I admit a sense of morbid curiosity with this one. I’m prone to root for the underdog and, even when that dog isn’t exactly under anything (see Deadpool 2), a lower profile…
Vote Arroyo!
Editor: I am writing to urge fellow residents of Eureka’s Third Ward to re-elect Natalie Arroyo to the city council. Natalie is Eureka Proud, and she embodies the things that make Eureka great. Eureka is the nation’s second designated Coast Guard City, and Natalie is a proud member of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. Eureka is super…
Measure M
Editor: A couple of suggestions about what to do with the statue of President McKinley: There is a famous fountain in Brussels called the “Manneken Pis.” It’s a little boy taking a whiz. On special occasions they dress him up. As a way to defuse the current political tensions regarding the McKinley statue on the…
Vote Brooks!
Editor: As a Ward 1 resident and voter, I am casting my vote for Caroline Brooks. Caroline’s credentials as a dedicated public servant and involved parent have been well-documented over the past several years. Caroline has canvassed all of Ward 1, knocking on doors and reaching out to many residents in her ward to hear…
Measure K
Editor: No on K, the Sanctuary Initiative. Whose idea was it to hang a “Welcome” sign to every reprobate running from the law? Our county is already unsafe; this measure will make it even more so. Besides attracting crime, Measure K creates a safe haven for those who illegally cross/have already crossed our border; it…
Vote Kanzler, Davenport!
Editor: Local services districts are our nearest and most direct form of government — and the most secretive and likely to go wrong. The Humboldt Community Services District has not had an election since 2011. Not one of its five directors was elected to the present term. Nobody runs. They appoint one another. HCSD provides…
10 Rules for Living in a Yurt
When my husband and I arrived in Humboldt a year ago, like many newcomers, we struggled to find a place. We spent weeks in $100-a-night slum-o motels while looking for housing. If the motels didn’t bankrupt us, the rental companies with per-person applications fees would have. Eventually we, like the holy family, finally found that…
Vote Seaman!
Editor: Eureka has a big decision ahead: voting for our next mayor. When you look at the candidates, it may seem like a difficult choice between Susan Seaman, a local economic development expert, and Heidi Messner, a current council member and local pastor. Both are well qualified and present positive visions for the city. However,…
You’re No Mola
Evolutionary history” is probably a terrible phrase to begin a lighthearted natural history story with. But maybe if I throw in live fish disc golf, that will keep your attention for another 500 words. Anyway, in your evolutionary history you have a fish. There’s plenty of genetic and anatomical evidence to support this. For example,…
Vote Marks!
Editor: I’ve known Richard Marks for more than 20 years. I know him as a dedicated husband and father, basketball coach, softball organizer, competent machine operator, responsible union representative and harbor commissioner. He currently serves on multiple boards, and in the past was on the Samoa Peninsula Fire District and the Humboldt Domestic Violence Services…
Band Together
I have been struggling to translate my horror at current political events through a popular culture lens because that’s what, for better or worse, Americans do. The best I’ve landed on is, oddly enough, John Carpenter’s 2001 underrated flop Ghosts of Mars, a film in which mining colonists unleash a well of ancient and violent…
Room for the Missing
This month Humboldt State University’s Gou’dini Gallery hosts Sing Our Rivers Red, a traveling exhibition that seeks to call attention to the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women across North America. Organized by a group of 10 artists calling themselves the SORR Collective and sponsored by groups at institutions, including North Dakota State University,…
Season Greetings
Now winter is coming on I suppose it would be a good idea to mask the small holes in the kitchen window that broke getting into the locked house last spring. It would show forethought to — even though the bathroom faucets drip steadily — wrap the pipes under the house that last winter’s long…
We All Need a Hero
When my 6-year-old daughter was afraid to put her head and face under water during swim class recently, I explained what it means to be brave. I said bravery isn’t about a lack of fear — acting without fear is easy. True bravery is when you’re terrified of something but you do it anyway. Some…
Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts held at locations in Arcata. Visit www.arcatamainstreet.com Arts! Arcata on Facebook or call 822-4500 for more information. ANGELICA ATELIER 1101 H St. “THE THE THE THE (Mother Gods Seeds Fruit),” Anna Sofia Amezcua, acrylics. ALCHEMY DISTILLERY 330 South G St. Rosewood Natural…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In his book The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen describes his quest to glimpse the elusive and rarely seen creature in the Himalayas. “Its uncompromising yellow eyes, wired into the depths of its unfathomable spirit,” he writes, give it a “terrible beauty” that is “the very stuff of human longing.” He loves…
Space Force
In news that could bring a whole new meaning to the term “high AF,” Forbes reported Oct. 8 that cannabis is headed into space. Seriously. Scientists with the bioengineering company Space Tango, which specializes in researching microgravity environments, plans to bring cannabis to NASA’s International Space Station some 250 miles above Earth to study how…
Sweet Reward
Kenneth Buntin smiles down at the row of new chocolates in the case, domes of milk and dark chocolate filled with ganache-like old fashioned creams — orange, hazelnut, vanilla, ginger and blackberry. While he’s tweaked and refined the recipes over 25 years in the same kitchen in Old Town’s Snug Alley, these are the first…
Beach Bonfire, Meteors and the Milky Way
In early to mid-August each year, the remnants of comet Swift-Tuttle’s passage rain down through our atmosphere in a spectacular show called the Perseid meteor shower. During its peak this year, my brother and I set out to Tepona Point, along Scenic Drive south of Trinidad, hopeful of capturing some of the terrestrial beauty of…
