Future At Bay
Rails, trails, kayaks and commerce in the Harbor District elections
Cover Story
Future at Bay
Humboldt Bay is having an identity crisis. Poor thing’s feeling insecure and, frankly, a bit depressed. (Peek into her wallet and you can understand why.) The grand sense of purpose she possessed back when trees and fish seemed inexhaustible and the mighty railroad kept her company has grown murky and diluted (though the water itself…
At the ‘Stop Police Brutality’ Protest
management. The Journal ‘s Andrew Goff reports: At 2:15 a group of about 50 protesters led by Verbena and made up mostly of teens marched to the gazebo for “Days of Action Against Police Brutality”. They will be landing at several Eureka sites today ending at Eureka City Hall for a candlelit vigil for Chris…
Dr. Rudi Becking, 1923-2009
Alliance.Dr. Rudi Becking, 1923-2009: Groundbreaking HSU forestry professor Rudolph Becking has died, according to the campus news service. In the 1970s, Becking was a minority voice for ecological responsibility in forestry
HSU Prof M. Wayne Knight Dies from H1N1 Complications
HSU Prof M. Wayne Knight Dies from H1N1 Complications: The Lumberjack reports that M. Wayne Knight, an associate professor in HSU’s Art Department, died earlier today from swine flu. Knight had been teaching graphic design since 2002; he also did graphic work for local businesses and nonprofits, including designing the logo for the Redwood Jazz
Harbor District Debate Underway
Listen on KHSU (90.5 FM) or watch it on KEET (Channel 13).
County’s Second H1N1 Death
From the Humbodlt County Office of Public Health, which adds only that the man died at Arcata’s Mad River Hospital: Local man’s death believed to be related to H1N1 A man who tested positive for H1N1 Influenza died Wednesday in a Humboldt County hospital. Officials report he had underlying health conditions, and the precise cause…
Dan Savage on ‘Pot City’
Dan Savage on ‘Pot City’: Savage, managing editor and sex columnist extraordinaire for Seattle independent weekly the Stranger weighs in on A&E’s profile of Arcata, or, more specifically, its narrator, whom he honors with the title, “Stupid Fucking Credulous Hack of the Day.” (Oh snap! He owned you, Vieira!) He goes on to assert, “the…
Mad River Could Beer The Country!
Well, the pulp mill’s officially dead. Now the work begins in earnest to find another use for the raw — meaning untreated — surface water from the Mad River for which the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District has a state permit to deliver for industrial uses. We’re not talking about our drinking water folks –…
Our Cable Debut!
We haven’t yet seen Pot City USA , the new documentary on Arcata that A&E debuted last night, but boy oh boy is this YouTube excerpt ever thrilling! This thing looks AWESOME! And hey, what’s this we see 24 seconds in? Seriously, though — ” Disorientation Week ”? That was two years ago! We suspect…
Pulp Mill Closes For Good
Failure to garner federal stimulus funding means the Samoa pulp mill will close forever, according to a just-issued press release: Green Manufacturing Mill Unable to Obtain Federal Stimulus Funds, Closes Permanently Freshwater Tissue would have created nearly 3,000 green jobs for economically devastated Northern California Humboldt County, CA- Freshwater Tissue, California’s last pulp mill and…
Just a Moment
Paging through the final Environmental Impact Report for the Marina Center project — the big box-anchored development that kazillionaire Rob Arkley is proposing to build on the Eureka waterfront, just west of Old Town — my eye landed on a familiar piece of artwork. There it was, attached to the letter of protest submitted by…
No Settlement
Editor: Thanks to Hank Sims for producing one of the better journalistic examinations of the Klamath deal (“The Klamath Settlement,” Oct. 8). However, the article’s subhead — “weighing the pros and cons of a proposal to end the crisis on our most important river” — is misleading. The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) and the…
Honor the History
Editor: Last week’s article titled “Cost of Occupation” deserves some discussion, so here goes. If we want to properly honor tribal sovereignty and atone for the forcible taking of Indian lands, it’s important that we understand the geography of traditional tribal territories and how it relates to present-day Indian government. If we went back to…
Exactly the Problem
Refusal to accept paid advertising? After reading the recent imbroglio about the scheduled Buju Banton performance, I wonder where this ends? (See “Town Dandy,” Oct. 15) If the Journal would refuse my paid advertisement dollars because of a song I recorded at 15, then it should look at some of its other potential sources of…
Meet A Vegan
Editor: I read Joseph Byrd’s recent column with mixed feelings (“Table Talk,” Oct. 8). While I enjoyed hearing about Byrd’s adventures with (and obvious affection for) his new ducks, several of his comments bothered me. When Byrd used the terms “radical” and “militant,” it was unclear to me whether he was referring to PETA specifically,…
The Life of the World to Come
Looking toward Biblical passages as inspiration and titles for your songs often rings a death knell for singer/songwriters who reign in the musical fringe sectors of pop, folk, rock and country — i.e. the "alt" world. Even Bob Dylan was initially dismissed for his "Christian" recordings, casting a shadow on the overlooked Slow Train Coming.…
The Reverse Kinch
Editor: Responding last week to your “Growing Pains” cover (Oct. 1), Joshua Kinch sounded more like a pompous Republican or plutocrat rather than his usual justice-seeking Democrat or independent. “The key to affordable housing is your car key,” Kinch wrote. “Drive to a town where your talents, skills, and financial picture allow you to buy…
Reading The OED
"For a brief period of time I find myself wondering if what I am doing is so abstruse that even the lexicographers think I am a nerd." If this is a thought you’ve had, then you’re probably right. You are a nerd. In attempting to read the entire Oxford English Dictionary in one year while…
Roasts and Pfosts
Editor, Thanks for the excellent article (“Growing Pain”, Oct. 1, 2009). The City of Arcata needs to authorize the annexation. I used to live in the Westwood Garden Apartments, which adjoins the proposed Creek Side development site. I can’t tell you how many nights we had to call the police because the transients who “live”…
Happy New Year!
The autumnal equinox happened a couple of weeks ago, marking the beginning of fall and the official end of the gardening year. Actually, I believe that September marks the end of one year and the beginning of a new year in every sense: It’s back-to-school time, which has ingrained in me the habit of going…
Correction
The charity that Ferndale artist Jack Mays helped found was misspelled and somewhat mischaracterised in last week’s “Art Beat” column. It is known more precisely as the “Amaysing Grace Foundation,” and its purpose is to assist Ferndale families who must travel out of the area to get medical care for their children. The Journal regrets…
The Cedars of Lebanon
The deforestation of the cedars of Lebanon happened much as these elegant trees grow: slowly but surely. Five thousand years ago, cedar forests covered huge swaths of the central mountain range of this pocket-sized country (smaller than Connecticut), a land squashed between Syria, the Mediterranean Sea and Israel/Palestine. Today, after millennia of exploitation, three reserves…
McKinleyville Arts Night
Join us for our community’s celebration of local art and artists for music, food and fun. You can find more information about the artists and venues and see additional images online at www.mckinleyvilleartsnight.com. 1 Pathways, 1183 Central Avenue. Chad White, photographs of North Thailand weavers. 2 The Front Gallery & Gifts, 1181 Central Avenue. Chris…
Yurok Geography
Before the idea of continental drift, before there…
Realizing Lorca
Federico Garcia Lorca achieved lasting fame with his poetry in the 1920s and ’30s — first in Spain and then internationally — but he was also a popular playwright, with major productions in Madrid. Inverted Alba (A Fable and Roundelay After Images by Garcia Lorca), currently at Dell’Arte, uses elements of four Lorca plays and…
The Undead Comedy Hour
Previews Opening Friday, Oct. 16, is the film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are* , *based on Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book. Max journeys to the land of Wild Things, where he becomes their new ruler, but soon finds that relationships are harder then he thought. Expect to sit in a theater full of…
Burning Down the Valley
About 2 p.m. last Wednesday, a flame leaped up in the grass alongside Hopkins Road on the northern edge of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. In the days following, the fire burned through the steep Hopkins Creek Drainage, seven miles northeast of downtown Hoopa, and spread beyond the reservation onto the Six Rivers National Forest,…
No Taboos
Holshouser, Bennink and Moore. For the uninitiated it probably sounds like the name of a law firm, but the trio of musicians — accordionist Will Holshouser, drummer Han Bennink and reedsman Michael Moore — is on the cutting edge of modern improvisational music. Holshouser is a New Yorker, an innovative player who’s worked as a…
Pass Me a Tissue
Ask anyone these days what they think will become of our dear old white lady of the spit — the comatose pulp mill on the Samoa Peninsula — and it’s likely they’ll say "parts." Not surprisingly, that infuriates Bob Simpson, one of the guys who bought the mill from Evergreen Pulp — formerly associated with…
