Cover Story
Nurses, Stat
You’ve probably heard a story about a friend or loved one who went to the emergency room in Humboldt County and had to wait hours to be seen. Or maybe after getting into the ER, he or she was transferred to an intensive care unit out of the area. “Not enough beds,” “not enough doctors,”…
Pink Tide Rising
On Jan. 21 an estimated 5,000 women, men and children (not to mention a few pets) joined the Eureka Women’s March, winding through Old Town in solidarity with the Washington D.C. Women’s March in protest of newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. There were plenty of pink “pussy-ear hats” in the crowd, as well as homemade…
Redwood National Park Joins Twitter Rebellion
One day after Tweets with references to climate change were deleted from the Badlands National Park account, the Associated Press reports national parks across the country are sending out messages of their own. Because that’s where we are now. Humboldt County’s own Redwood National Park appears to have joined the growing rebellion against Trump administration…
Planning Commission Vote: Ulansey Out, Mitchell In
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 today, with Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson dissenting, to appoint McKinleyville resident and accountant Brian Mitchell to the at-large planning commission seat currently held by Lee Ulansey. Mitchell, a former McKinleyville school board member and current member of the county’s Assessment Appeals Board, addressed the supervisors, saying…
Pedestrian Killed in Eureka Crash
An 80-year-old Eureka woman was killed yesterday morning when she was hit by a pickup truck while crossing F Street. According to the Eureka Police Department, Maria Bosnar was in the crosswalk on F Street and had the walk signal at about 9:55 a.m. when a pickup truck turning left onto F Street from Harris…
The Eureka Women’s March through an Indigenous Lens
Videographer and photographer Matika Wilbur created a short film documenting this Saturday’s march. Wilbur, who is Tulalip and Swinomish, is visiting the Karuk and Hupa Nations as part of her year-long project in which she visits all 105 tribes of California. More information is available at www.project562.com. Wilbur sent the Journal this statement: “I’ve had the opportunity to…
Canine Cop Calls it a Career
Zari, the Arcata Police patrol dog, has retired after eight and a half years of service. During his career with APD, Zari, a German shepherd who joined the force in 2008, was present for more than 1,000 arrests and assisted in many high-risk situations. In 2013, he located a double murder suspect hiding in the…
Black Violin
If you like hip-hop, rock, R&B and bluegrass mixed in with your classical violin, don’t miss a night genre-busting music courtesy of Black Violin on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. at the Van Duzer Theatre ($36, $10 HSU students). The stereotype-defying duo is accompanied by a band that features a drummer and turntable whiz…
Largest March in Eureka History
UPDATE: Organizers report that the official tally for Saturday’s march was between 7,000 and 8,000 people, which is roughly six percent of Humboldt County’s total population. Previously: Thousands of people turned out to Eureka’s waterfront this afternoon in what event organizer Nancy Stephenson has said was the largest march in the city’s history. The Eureka…
Applicants Line up For Ulansey’s Planning Commission Seat
So far, at least 16 candidates have turned in paperwork to be considered Tuesday for an at-large position on the Humboldt County Planning Commission after the supervisors decided to explore their options rather than simply reappoint current seat holder Lee Ulansey. Some of the applications date back to 2010, while 11 others were turned in…
Silent People in Black Protest on Arcata Plaza
Several dozen protesters joined the People in Black Inaugural Day Vigil on the Arcata Plaza this morning. They held signs or simply expressed their First Amendment rights with their silent presence as they gathered at the same time as the inauguration. Their goal was to share their concerns about and objections to the incoming administration.…
The Best Medicine
Meryl Streep quoted her late friend Carrie Fisher: “Take your broken heart, make it into art.” Circumstances may be what they are but we are not powerless to bring about the world we want to see, become the tribe we wish to be. Local comedian Sam Wingspan and Calder Johnson, artistic director of North Coast…
Elder Abuse Case Against Timber Ridge Yields $5 Million Verdict
Timber Ridge McKinleyville will pay the family of a woman who died under its care $5 million after a jury found the facility liable for wrongful death and elder abuse on Jan. 17. The amount includes $2.5 million in punitive damages. The suit, brought by Valerie Monschke, a daughter of the resident, stems from an…
Fish Tales 4
Dell’Arte International and the Mad River Alliance are gettin’ fishy with it again. The popular Fish Tales production returns to the stage with Fish Tales 4 on Friday, Jan. 20 at 7:30-9:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 21 at 7:30-9:30 p.m. at Dell’Arte’s Carlo Theatre ($10, $5, free for kids 12 and under). The family-friendly variety…
Horszowski Trio
New York City musicians and Columbia University teachers, Jesse Mills, Raman Ramakrishnan and Rieko Aizawa, better known as the Horszowski Trio, perform selections by Beethoven, Bernstein and Mendelssohn Friday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Calvary Lutheran Church ($30, $10 seniors, $5 students, free for 8 and under with adult). Presented by the Eureka…
Reawakening
Excuse me. I’ve been hibernating. I remember the day I fell into a slumber. It was Nov. 8, the night I wrote my last column. No, it wasn’t just Trump but the sort of family medical issues that compel a person to say, “Eff the whole world outside my house. I don’t care anymore.” Gone…
To Our Health
To be healthy, wealthy and wise. Now not many folks know this, but music can help us achieve two of those goals, and I’ll give you a half-second to ponder which one music rarely helps out with. I heard an interview on KHSU not too long ago with Jeffrey Smoller of Making Headway, which helps…
Wild Medicine
It’s windy out and the clouds are a bruised, luminous purple not found anywhere, really, except the sky. Thunder rumbles across the bay from Eureka and Greta de la Montagne emerges from the car with eyes to the ground. She promptly spots a clump of plantain. Smashing a leaf between her thumb and fingers she…
Easy-Peasy
A month after we married in the late ’70s, my husband Barry Evans and I decided to stop eating meat. Which wasn’t that difficult because, although I was raised on fried chicken, Southern ham, pork chops and ribs, I never learned to cook meat myself. As a single woman in my 20s, the closest I…
Humboldt Harbor: The Heart of Our Community
Humboldt Bay is the heart of our community. Its pulse is the rhythm of the tides. Each tide disperses everything from micronutrients that sustain vital natural resources to cargo destined for international commerce. There are unwritten natural laws and there are legislated laws that guide us through the decision-making process for utilizing our incredibly valuable…
How Sweet It Ain’t
Right about the time the U.S. government issued its first dietary guidelines in 1980, obesity and its evil twin, Type 2 diabetes, took off. In 1950, 12 percent of us were obese; 30 years later, that figure had increased marginally to 15 percent. But between 1980 and 2000, the rate shot up to 35 percent.…
The Cannabis Conundrum
When I began my brief career as a drug and alcohol counselor (2010-2012), I had learned to define sobriety along some pretty stark lines: Either you were abstinent from all psychoactive substances or you weren’t. Sober people don’t take medicine that doesn’t have their name on the label. Sober people don’t occasionally take psilocybin mushroom…
The Bostonians
Reviews LIVE BY NIGHT. Up to this point, Ben Affleck’s scorecard for directing is marked with three wins and zero losses: Gone Baby Gone (2007) used local color and emotional realism to take a taut little detective story down some literal and figurative dark alleys; The Town (2010), again using Boston as a backdrop, made…
Seeing Clearly
Editor: Kimberly Wear has written a chilling article about an out-of control prosecution (“Profoundly Disturbing,” Jan. 12). The rights of the public to be protected and the rights of the public to protect themselves seem to have been confounded. To make some sense of this we must separate being a public crusader from advancing a…
Remembering Amber
Editor: I am overwhelmed again with the deep life-changing, tragic loss of my daughter Amber Slaughter. My heart is running, my belly is tight and working on trying to hold back the flood of tears that hide behind my eyes. On January 23, 1994, Amber was murdered by three young men all under the age…
McKinleyVOTE
Editor: A special election is coming up in McKinleyville soon, for a vacated seat on the Board of the McKinleyville Community Services District (MCSD). If you are one of the several thousand registered voters in McKinleyville, your mail ballots should be arriving by mid-February. This will be a mail-only ballot. I am giving my whole-hearted support…
A Day On
Editor: What logic is behind the city of Fortuna not honoring the federal holiday for Martin Luther King? City Hall is open 1/16/17. Kay Wunder, Fortuna
Narcissism
Editor: In Greek mythology, Narcissus was the proud son of a river god and a nymph, and one who disdained others. Nemesis saw this behavior and attracted Narcissus to a pool where he saw his own reflection and fell in love with it — that is himself. Today, the Narcissistic personality is recognized as a…
More Good Advice
Editor: “Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.” — Groucho Marx. Catherine Barnes, Eureka
A Beloved Teacher
Editor: I enjoyed the interview with Lenny Escarda’s daughter Peri Escarda, in the January 5 edition of the Journal. It’s clear that Peri’s father was an inspiration to her. I knew Mr. Escarda while he taught at McKinleyville High School. He seemed to always have a smile to share and if you had a problem,…
Six Years and Counting
While the Queen Anne-style house at 1635 G St. is considered to be one of Eureka’s architectural gems, the once opulent two-story structure is now a shadow of its former self. The ornate exterior has fallen into disrepair with broken windows encased in plywood instead of glass. Hallways where Eureka’s elite once walked have seen…
Steelhead
Gone is December’s method, Practiced under the gauze Of coming storms And long mornings, finally Duped into evening’s silent coup. Now, January, Chilled cradle to summer’s unborn, Giving way to the hiss Of slick, cold waters And their emerald rumors, Of rocks and shadows And silvery ghosts in big, new worlds.
The Same Boat
In January of 2016, Sierra Leash traveled from Humboldt to Greece to volunteer with refugees fleeing to Europe from Syria and other war-torn countries. One year later she reports, “There are over 62,000 refugees stuck in Greece awaiting asylum or relocation, often living in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.” Since returning home, Leash has continued to…
