Unleashing the TREX
Why officials think controlled burns can save California from wildfire
Cover Story
Unleashing the TREX
Bill Tripp remembers a chilly morning when he was 4 and his great-grandmother Bessie Tripp, the legendary Karuk Indian elder, was still asleep. At first, he passed the time cracking acorns, but then decided to start a fire in the wood stove. Bessie woke and quietly intervened. Bill remembers that Bessie came around the corner…
UPDATED: Brius Rescinds Cancellation of Partnership Contract, Halts Closure of Two Skilled Nursing Facilities
UPDATE: Partnership Healthcare announced yesterday in a press release that Rockport had rescinded letters terminating its contract with the MediCal administrator, meaning that patients in the facilities, or entering the facilities via the hospital, will not have to have their coverage re-negotiated. “We are happy that a larger closure was avoided and that our fragile…
Ballot Measures: P and V Cruise in Final Report
2nd UPDATE: With the final election night report posted, measures seeking to bring a true ward voting system to Eureka and put mobile home parks located within unincorporated areas of the county under rent control have won handily. Other items of note: Humboldt voters passed school bonds everywhere but Ferndale; tax measures were successful other…
2nd UPDATE: Allison, Arcata Incumbents Secure Wins in Final Report
3rd UPDATE: The final election night reported has been posted with 100 percent of Humboldt County precincts reporting, and not much has changed with local contested city council races. Austin Allison has bested John Fullerton in Eureka’s 4th Ward, the Arcata incumbents have held their seats, incumbent Ferndale Mayor Don Hindley has won himself another…
Down Ballot Roundup: Huffman, Wood Sailing; Prop 64 is Humboldt Approved
2nd UPDATE: With the final election night tallies in, 59 percent of voters in Humboldt County supported legalizing recreational marijuana possession, cultivation, use and sales, following suit with the rest of the state. Click here to see how all the state propositions fared. 1st UPDATE: With more than 40 percent of the vote in, California…
Vote!
It’s a stressful day, we get it. You’re spending the afternoon hovered over some kind of screen, watching pundits breathlessly report the first round of exit polls. And, you may be feeling the anxiety rise in your gut because you haven’t voted yet. Or maybe you voted by mail weeks ago but find yourself suddenly…
Close Call Leaves Mills with Lessons Learned
Eureka Police Chief Andrew Mills has a PSA for would-be wave-watchers: “When they say don’t go out on the jetty, don’t go out on the jetty.” Mills was driving along the north jetty with his wife last Saturday when he decided to walk out on the jetty and take pictures of the large waves sweeping…
Jim Howard Has Died
James “Jim” Howard passed away on Nov. 2 at the age of 100. “Jim was a quiet leader of this community, leading by example and few words,” Eureka Mayor Frank Jager said in a press release. “When Jim spoke, others listened”. Howard, who operated a shoeshine stand in Eureka’s Old Town for 36 years, was an…
The End is Near
If you’ve found the whole 2016 presidential race absurd, why not go all the way into the weird? Spend election night celebrating the end of it all at Nikolai Gogol’s 2016 Election Bonanza and End-Times Hullabaloo on Tuesday, Nov. 8 from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Arcata Playhouse ($110, or $10 with an “I…
From the Camps to the Courthouse
On Nov. 3, the city of Eureka’s temporary sleeping area program abruptly ended. Around 30 people were given 16 hours notice that they would have to leave in the morning and that a low-enforcement/sanctuary area for overnight camping would no longer be offered. These are some of the people impacted by the change as they…
Crab: No Guts, No Worries
You can start planning Christmas dinner — the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is opening recreational Dungeness crabbing all over California starting Saturday, Nov. 5. Mind you, the California Department of Health warns seafood lovers in Humboldt and other areas north of Marin County not to consume the guts “due to the sporadic detection…
Keeping it Wild
Once a year, the Environmental Protection Information Center rolls out one big party — a fundraiser for lasting protection and restorations of Northwest California’s forested ecosystem, the EPIC Fall Celebration. This year’s celebration, taking place Friday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. at the Mateel Community Center, is the organization’s 39th and promises to be one…
Prop 64!
Editor: Decades of cannabis prohibitionist lies, half-truths and propaganda (“Vote No for a Safer Community,” Oct. 20, 2016), today, is one of the reasons cannabis (marijuana) prohibition is about to end. Colorado voters heard it all before and voted. While polls predicting election results regarding cannabis seem to indicate it will pass, one poll is…
Measure E!
Editor: Measure E is a Fortuna police and essential services measure designed to provide funds to maintain essential services in the police department, repair aging streets, maintain city property and enhance programs for youth and seniors. Measure E will increase sales tax in Fortuna from 8 percent to 8.75 percent, or 75 cents for every…
Measure K!
Editor: I am writing this letter in support of Measure K, a bond to finance needed repairs at Jacoby Creek School. California ranks 42nd in spending for K-12 education. These bonds are the only viable means for schools to do needed repairs. Other schools throughout Humboldt have passed similar measures. At present, Jacoby Creek School…
Measure P!
Editor: The candidate for Eureka City Council, campaign materials in a plastic bag, trudged through the late October rain to yet another house. It was apparent, despite a valiant effort to campaign door-to-door in the entire city, this was going to prove impossible. The city was simply too large. He remembered the night before, when,…
Measure V!
Dear Editor: Measure V represents the ideal of grassroots democracy in action. A group of ordinary folks facing a serious problem realized that this problem was bigger than any of them individually. They realized rents were rising fast in many mobile home parks, and that this threatened the already meager affordable housing supply. So they…
Pitino!
Editor: Arcata Mayor Paul Pitino has gone to bat for some of the most vulnerable people in our town. I have seen this first hand. When a friend, who is a homeless Humboldt State University student, and I requested a meeting with Paul to discuss the issue of student homelessness, Paul not only showed up,…
Vote Allison!
Editor: I am running for Eureka City Council because I want to make Eureka a place where everyone can participate in community life, pursue a good career and raise a healthy family. Society and technology are changing; we must keep up if we hope to create a sustainable economy and environment. Past leadership has remained…
Vote Fullerton!
Editor: In last week’s Mailbox, I wrote a positive letter talking about my qualifications and my hundreds of supporters. My opponent had two more negative letters from his supporters, attacking me and my supporters. Why is that? Do Austin Allison’s supporters know he can’t compete with me so they have no choice but to tear…
‘Saddened and Disturbed’
Editor: I was deeply saddened and disturbed by the article on the genocide of Native people in California (“An American Genocide,” Oct. 27). Not surprised as the genocidal policy against Native Americans in this country is no secret. Reading the details was sickening and certainly the irony that we are witnessing the same kind of…
The Dirty Canteen
A ceramic mug rests in an anonymous space on a flat white surface. The mug inhabits the shot. We get to eyeball its glazed surface for approximately 1.5 seconds before it explodes. A different cup reappears in the same spot. The sequence repeats again and again in Marine veteran and ceramicist Ehren Tool’s 2007 video,…
Change Needed
Editor: Kudos to Linda Stansberry on her in-depth reporting on the skilled nursing facilities. The first article, several weeks ago, was a horror story about that poor lady who was suffering at he hands of supposed “caregivers” (“The Death of Jeanie Newstrom,” Aug. 4). She was failing and covered with bedsores, which were covered up…
Arts Alive!
Presented by Eureka Main Street. Opening receptions for artists, exhibits and performances are held the first Saturday of each month. For more information, call 442-9054 or go to www.eurekamainstreetorg. ADORNI CENTER 1011 Waterfront St. Erica Botkin, photography; Paul Rickard, watercolors; Barbara Saul, pastels. ALIROSE 229 F St. Susan Strope, floral paintings. A TASTE OF BIM…
Second Street Sanctuary
In the lobby of the Eureka Rescue Mission, a man sits with his head in his hands, waiting to be called up to the desk. He is middle-aged, with shaggy brown hair and a few days’ worth of stubble. His dirty jeans reek of urine. His face is one big eggplant-colored bruise. Bryan Hall, executive…
Puzzle Masters
Reviews INFERNO. Lacking any connection to, experience with or substantive prior knowledge of the works of novelist Dan Brown, including the two prior cinematic adaptations in this series, The DaVinci Code (2006) and Angels and Demons (2009), my preconceptions about Inferno were founded on the canon of director Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks. They…
Four More Years
It sounds strange to even say this, but by the time some of you read this column, this piece of shit election season might already be over. So, my future reader, I hope that America is either already great again or that we have woken up and realized that we are, in fact, not descended…
Taming the Tamer?
Scholars have argued for centuries as to when, or even whether, Shakespeare wrote The Taming of the Shrew. What’s not in doubt is that John Fletcher, Shakespeare’s successor as house playwright for the King’s Men, wrote The Woman’s Prize, or The Tamer Tamed, as a sequel. This piece, completed in the early 17th century, tells…
No Spit, No Problem
Just as here in the States we can go into any town, from a settlement to a city, and get a hamburger, so it is in Greece with shawarma. And not just in Greece; shawarma is available from chains, poky mom ‘n’ pop shops and jazzy lunch joints in most parts of Europe these days,…
Get Educated!
Editor: I’m responding to the perception that the 222-page initiative pamphlet is too much to bother with. Simply put, most of the info you need is in the summaries on pages 8 through 16. Don’t allow misleading ads to drive your decisions. It’s worth 45 minutes to read the summaries. Here’s but one reason to…
Come in Peace, Come in Prayer
Editor’s note: Conflict over the 1,172 mile Dakota Access Pipeline reached a fever pitch last week when police arrested hundreds of protesters, including Hoopa’s own Thomas Joseph. The 30-inch pipe, if completed, is slated to carry 470,000 barrels of oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa, before ultimately connecting to an existing pipeline…
Vote Third!
Editor: Excited to vote for Trump or Clinton? If so, this letter is not for you. If not, read on. If you are considering abstaining or a protest write-in, then let me direct your attention to something useful you can do instead: Vote for a third party candidate. Jill Stein (Green) and Gary Johnson (Libertarian)…
Points on the Package
With ballot measures in nine states poised to legalize recreational or medical marijuana, Nov. 8 is shaping up as a huge day for the anti-prohibition set. It could also bring a tipping point for federal laws and regulations, especially those governing the banking industry. While Reuters reports that the number of U.S. banks willing to…
