News

The P-D lands the first post-"bullshit" interview with the senator. I'm bumping it up here into a new post because it's a frightening, must-read piece.

It's absolutely clear that Wiggins is not well, and is in desperate need of the medical attention that her friends and associates insist she is not receiving. Instead, they're propping the woman up and saying everything is just cool. It's more than a little grotesque.

Cindy Thomas, a Petaluma nurse and Wiggins supporter, said Wednesday at the Capitol that she took the senator's remarks to the pastor as a sign of strength.

"It's a perfect example of how she goes to bat for people. She's a no-holds-barred person," said Thomas, who was in Sacramento on Wednesday with United Health Workers of America to lobby legislators.

"She doesn't bull---- us," Thomas said. "She talks in terms everyday people can understand, and not in Sacramento-ese."

Again -- if someone taking this line could please identify the "bullshit arguments" in Pastor Jones' address, I'd be much obliged.

The Press Democrat comes through with a telling update. Santa Rosans close to the senator tell tales very similar to the ones that Humboldters tell in this week's "Town Dandy," which will go live right here at the stroke of midnight. P-D reporters Derek J. Moore and Mike McCoy provide a lot more detail, though:

One local official said she was astounded by what she witnessed in Wiggins' office around three months ago when, in a meeting with a half-dozen officials from two counties to discuss the state budget crisis, the senator "flew off the handle and jumped out of her chair" to angrily berate a staffer over a minor issue.

"I had been warned going in," the official said about Wiggins' behavior.

Wiggins started over from the beginning of a prepared script each time a new official entered the meeting. By the time it was over, the local council member said, "I was shocked."

"I've known Pat for a long time. I walked for her when she ran for City Council and supported her when she ran for the Assembly and Senate. This is totally, totally out of character for her," the council member said.

"I was wondering how much longer they can keep this under cover. I didn't want to be the one to blow the whistle," the council member added.

Amazingly, other friends and colleagues continue to insist that everything is just okie dokie with Pat. Another variation on "Oh, that's just Pat!" For all this and more, read the full P-D piece. It's fascinating.

Quick side note: Gotta pay respect to Bruce Anderson at the Anderson Valley Advertiser. He noted a couple of weeks ago that the senator had come unhinged lately. Who would have guessed that he would have been so quickly proven so spectacularly right? His piece isn't online or I'd link it.

UPDATE: Just one more thought. It seems more and more certain that, despite her friends' objections, Sen. Wiggins is not well. If so, we will probably find out the specific malady soon enough.

Hats off, then, to two class acts. First of all, I'd like to note that I called Wiggins' competitor in the 2006 election, Republican Lawrence Wiesner, also of Santa Rosa. Unlike some of Republican comrades, Wiesner refused to speak to the incident, saying only that he came to know Wiggins in the election and he wished her no ill.

Most of all, though, one has to admire Pastor Robert Jones, the target of Wiggins' YouTubed outburst. He's being urged to make more hay of the matter every which way, and he indicated early on to the Sacramento Bee that there would be further actions forthcoming. Since then he has evidently had a change of heart. He's not returning reporters' phone calls, including the Journal's. He appears inclined to let the matter drop.

Perhaps he possesses that rare quantity one hears so much of but rarely encounters in the actual world -- simple Christian charity.

That's tellin' 'em, California State Senator Pat Wiggins ! Let them eat cake!

And give me two of whatever you just had!

Via the Sac Bee 's Capitol Alert .

We've been waiting for a year ; now it's finally here ! From Rio Dell to Patrick's Point, Humboldt County has been added to Google Street View!

Now's when the fun starts. We're going to give some kind of prize -- TBA, but awesome -- to the Street View sightseer who finds the best Humboldt County Street View sight and posts it here.

Get searching!

UPDATE: Helpful hint -- to acquire the link to the specific Street View you have found, use the "Link" button, as seen in the top-right corner of the screenshot on this page. Copy the link (control-C or command-C). Then paste it in your comment inside a HTML link tag, like thus:

<a href="[STUFF YOU COPIED]"> Here's a rad cool Street View! Prominent Ferndalian caught leaving downtown motel with female 'friend'! </a>

Your rad cool Street View will be thus linked.

The word coming over the transom this morning is that longtime Eureka Reporter staffer Diane Batley has been tapped to replace departed editor Glenn Franco Simmons. This would seem to confirm some earlier intel we had received, one part of which was that a thorough nationwide talent search came up bupkis.

Batley is 32 years old.

UPDATE, 3:16 p.m.: Et voila:

Eureka Reporter names new Managing Editor

EUREKA - The Eureka Reporter announced Friday that Diane M. Batley has been named Managing Editor of the daily newspaper.

Batley held the Assistant Managing Editor position for three years under former Managing Editor Glenn Franco Simmons who left the paper in May.

Batley helped grow the paper from a weekly to a daily newspaper, as well as oversaw a nearly tripling of the paper’s staff during her tenure.

Nathan Rushton, previously the environment reporter for more than three years, who more recently held the Interim Assistant Managing Editor position, also accepted the position as Assistant Managing Editor.

The announcement followed a more than two-month national search with interviews of candidates traveling from as far as Florida and Texas.

Publisher Judi Pollace said she is pleased with the new staffing changes.

"It was with a great deal of personal and professional pleasure that I offered Diane Batley the position of managing editor this morning," Pollace said. "After conducting a national search, we found the best candidate right in our own newsroom. Diane has been running the newsroom since May and we couldn't be happier with the results."

Pollace said she is equally excited about Batley’s appointment of Rushton as Assistant Managing Editor.

"They have been a great team for a number of years and will now take that talent and enthusiasm to the next level," Pollace said.

Batley said she is thrilled to take the job.

"I’m fortunate to work with the best editorial staff that we’ve ever had," Batley said. "Our potential is limitless and I’m looking forward to that potential being realized daily in the pages of our newspaper and online."

As always, we are gratified when one of our hard-hitting news stories busts out of the page and acquires a life of its own. And such has been the case with Heidi Walters' pretend expose of the city of Arcata's attempt to quash the "World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions."

In the real world, we understand that Arcata City Councilmember Mark Wheetley addressed the issue at this week's council meeting. It seems that the Eureka Reporter will publish a story tomorrow that will seek to disprove our reportage.

Meanwhile, yours truly appeared on KHUM this morning to explain myself to deejay Cliff Berkowitz:

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