Cover Story
Come Hither, Dear Doc
There’s a story folks who recruit medical professionals to Humboldt County like to tell when they’re pressed for gory details on the difficulties of their task. Well, they don’t like to tell the story (they prefer upbeat accounts), but against their better instincts they eventually do. It involves a physician — an orthopedic surgeon, or…
State Accuses Eureka Doc of Negligence
Medical regulators are accusing Dr. Michael A. Palmer of gross negligence, saying the Eureka surgeon failed to repair one patient’s hernia correctly and created false or misleading records on that patient and one other. The episodes occurred in 2010 and 2011, according to a formal accusation that the state Attorney General’s Office has filed on…
Chinn’s Open House
It’s crisp, it’s clean and it smells like fresh lilies in here — and there they are, two big bunches of loveliness sitting on tables inside the spacious main room of the new Betty Kwan Chinn Day Center on the corner of Seventh and C streets in Eureka. A bank of computers lines a back…
Eureka City Council to Issue Weird Non-Apology
In a special meeting Tuesday night, the Eureka City Council will promise to never again do something that it won’t admit to having done in the first place. As it’s phrased in the agenda, the council is scheduled to adopt a resolution “of unconditional commitment to cease, desist, and not repeat past action that is…
Co-op Employees to Picket Board Meeting
The clash between North Coast Co-op management and unionized employees continues. Here’s a press release from the union: United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5 will hold a rally and picket at the North Coast Co-operatives Board of Directors meeting on Thursday November 14th. The rally will highlight the Co-op’s use of union busting…
UPDATED: Billboard Company Unleashes Lawyers Who Use Big Words
Looks like the company that owns all those billboards between Arcata and Eureka just recently found out that the Coastal Commission wants them all torn down. It’s response? “You can’t make us!” That’s a rough translation of the comically wordy lawyer-speak contained in from attorney Anthony M. Leones of Miller Starr Regalia on behalf of CBS Outdoor Inc.,…
From the Hum: Monday’s Must-See Show
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band is a big, twangy ride of a good time. With washboard! There’s nothing not to like about this band. Make your Monday worthwhile by ensconcing yourself at Hum Brews for this show. Tickets are $15, music starts at 9 p.m.
HuffPo Declares Eureka “Awesome”
Aw, this is pretty sweet. For those of you down on E-town, another piece of evidence that believers in #EurekaRising are winning: The HuffPo lists Eureka as one of the top 20 towns that soul-seeking 20-somethings must visit before they die turn 30. Those old favorite cities are boring! The thrifty (because they have to be),…
From the Hum: Americana vs. Country
Americana laced with pedal steel and banjo is on the menu Sunday night with the Black Lillies at Humboldt Brews. Lovely and thoughtful, both invoking melancholy and keeping it at bay, like the last leg of a long, lonely road trip. Tickets are $10, show’s 21-and-over, music starts around 9 p.m. Making for a tough…
From the Hum: Saturday’s Classical, Deep Bass and Psych Rock
As a former and sometimes current journalist, I appreciate efforts to keep ancient art forms alive, thus a shout-out to chamber music aficionados SquarPeg, appearing in concert at the Fortuna Monday Club on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. SquarPeg is dedicated to exploring chamber music for the 21st century. From the press release: “Considering the abundance…
Job Opening at Arcata Main Street
Update: On Nov. 9, Arcata Main Street Board Member Travis Turner emailed a letter of resignation to Neyra and others, in which he alleged misdeeds and said he was looking into the legality of the board’s actions. Turner said, in part: “I feel that you and your company profiting from the Oyster Festival creates a…
Real Men Eat Chevre
Umm, we totally ate Truffle Tremor and Lighthouse Grill burgers before they were cool. But we’re still happy to see them getting all famous. Queen Oprah has knighted Cypress Grove’s Truffle Tremor (via the PastoralArtisan.com) as one of her favorite things. You can read about her plans to put it in a “Love Sandwich” for Stedman…
Unbound
Humboldt Unbound, a grand, fanciful, poetic, theatrical biography of the Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt, namesake of the county where we live, began a two weekend run last night at Humboldt State University. A gala champagne opening helped introduce the cast and crew. Dell’Arte Producing Artistic Director Michael Fields watched from the back…
What the Fup
The novelist/poet Jim Dodge launched a short Humboldt tour earlier this week at HSU, reading from his book Fup, to a crowded room. The readings continue with stops at College of the Redwoods Friday, Nov 15, at 10 a.m., at the CR Mendocino Coast Campus on Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 4 p.m. concluding on his…
From the Hum: Tonight’s Bluegrass Fix
It’s a must-see show for bluegrass fans tonight when The Grascals perform at the Arcata Theatre Lounge. For those unfamiliar, the Grascals are among the most beloved and acclaimed bands on today’s bluegrass scene — they’ve won a slew of awards and been nominated for a number of Grammys, plus they’ve appeared on The Late,…
Rules for the Tipping Point
As the Journal was going to press Tuesday night, the Eureka City Council was poised to reconsider the city’s medical marijuana ordinance, a set of regulations that for the past two years has been locked up and ignored like a trapped skunk — dangerous, irksome and waiting to be dealt with. The ordinance was adopted…
Got the Time?
Editor: The essay on reality by Barry Evans (“Field Notes,” Oct. 31) reminded me of a quotation from Arthur Eddington: “Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.” A consequence of Einstein’s relativity is that moving observers slice space-time in different directions so that a distant person’s…
An Apology
Editor: I need to retract my recommendation that Colleen Toste be removed by the voters from the NHUHSD (“Mailbox,” Oct. 24). We have had private communication that indicates to me that she knows the severity of the situation detailed in the Journal a few issues ago. I do know how to apologize when I am…
Co-op News(group)
Editor: There were several recent letters to the NCJ from readers concerned about the current labor negotiations at the North Coast Co-op. Some concerned Co-op members have individually addressed the Co-op’s Board of Directors at routine meetings, as well as the 40th Anniversary celebration. It has been difficult for Co-op members concerned about this issue…
A No-Nonsense Start to November
Hey, who’s hung over from honoring the dead with far too many tequila shots? Me! Here’s your Hum. Thursday: Pimps and Shamans Funk brilliance lights up Humboldt Brews when Brooklyn’s the Pimps of Joytime take the stage in a joyful combination of Afro-beat, salsa, electronica and sheer groovaliciousness. San Francisco’s always well-received Diego’s Umbrella opens.…
Behind the Bark
Sometimes it’s a little stain from a rusty nail that catches his eye. Other times, it’s the cavities chewed into a cheap piece of plywood by beach grime and salt. While most people would rather ignore these aesthetic imperfections, for Arcata artist Zachary Shea, they’re inspiration. The history implied by these marks attracts him. Time…
Soup with Chestnuts
Holding in my hands a hot roasted chestnut, I could see the plump fruit through the slit cut on the charred shell. It was easy to crumble the brittle shell and skin to free the fragrant fruit; it tasted nutty, sweet and a bit like the woods from which it came. The outer shell of…
Changing Times
After the Japanese government surrendered to end World War II, American forces occupied Japan. The occupation brought close to a million Americans to Japan at its height, and even though it was officially over in 1951, there was still a sizeable U.S. military presence in 1954. That’s the time, place and situation in A.R. Gurney’s…
God Particle or Goddamn Particle?
Just a month ago, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics would go to two of the original six researchers who proposed the existence of the so-called “Higgs particle” in 1964. The Higgs is named after Scotsman Peter Higgs, one of the two laureates, the other being the…
Happy Trails
After seemingly endless days of sun, it was one of those bone-chilling, gray mornings that make staying home very attractive. But Jane Stock and Susan Penn, Volunteer Trail Steward coordinators for Eureka’s Hikshari’ trail, had tasks and tools to keep the several dozen volunteers busy and refreshments to take the edge off of the marine…
Second Friday Arts! Arcata
Arts! Arcata is Arcata Main Street’s monthly celebration of visual and performing arts, held at more than 30 participating locations in Arcata. Visit www.artsarcata.com for even more information about the event or call (707) 822-4500. Arcata Artisans Cooperative 883 H St. Joy Dellas, paintings. Betsy Roberts, metal work and jewelry. Zak Shea, woodwork and paintings.…
Game On
Reviews ENDER’S GAME. I’ll go ahead and say it: I’ve never read Ender’s Game. It didn’t interest me in the first place, and now that author Orson Scott Card insists on disseminating his socio-political beliefs, I’m less inclined than ever to pick it up. Petty, childish rationale, I admit, and one I abandoned rather easily…
Bleeding Edge
Early on in Bleeding Edge, fraud investigator Maxine Tarnow-Loeffler observes: “Paranoia is the garlic in life’s kitchen, right, you can never have too much.” And that’s Thomas Pynchon in a nutshell; paranoia is his medium, and his whole 40-some-year career has been an exploration of its various shades and manifestations. Given that, why has it…
A Hundred Egrets
Once as I passed by the bay a hundred egrets stood in the tidal flats, and the shape of their gathering showed where the tide was exactly deep as an egret’s leg. Oh how perfect, beautifully perfect to be an egret in egret-high tide and watch the little fish twinkle at your feet like silver…
The Ox Man Cometh
They don’t make ’em like they used to. Except for the Blue Ox Millworks, where owner/craftsman Eric Hollenbeck and his wife Viviana have been turning out architectural millwork the old-fashioned way for 40 years. That means using tools, techniques and materials from centuries past and the sweat that goes with it. Students at the Blue…
Some Strange
American beer used to come in two flavors: cold and warm. But our palates have gone back to school, and today breweries have funkier names than garage bands, and sour beer is something you pay $12 a glass for instead of pouring down the sink. Now that you can pick up a six of watermelon…
