PostedByKimberly Wear
on Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 9:00 AM
Photo courtesy of Judy Magney
Dick and Judy Magney around the time they met in 1992
A scathing appellate ruling that found officials with the county of Humboldt overstepped their bounds and misrepresented evidence to the court when they interfered in a Carlotta couple’s end-of-life medical decisions became final yesterday.
That sets the stage for attorney Allison Jackson, who represented Dick and Judy Magney in the case, to begin settlement talks — a process that she said will start with a letter being sent to the board of supervisors this week “in order for them to understand the gravity and significance of this decision.”
Almost exactly two years have passed since Adult Protective Services began a March 2015 investigation into never pursued or substantiated reports of possible caretaker neglect after Dick Magney — then 73 and in failing health — was admitted to the hospital.
PostedByKimberly Wear
on Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 2:13 PM
City of Arcata
Wheetley
The nearly two years remaining in Arcata Councilmember Mark Wheetley’s term are set to be filled by appointment in April as he prepares for his last meeting before moving on to serve as Fortuna’s new city manager.
The council is scheduled Wednesday to approve opening up an application process, running until March 24, from those interested in saddling up to the dais until December of 2018, when Wheetley's term expires. Wheetley’s seat officially becomes open the next day.
Hopefuls must live and be registered to vote in Arcata, submit at least 20 valid signatures from registered Arcata voters (a list of 30 is recommended) and hand in a maximum 250-word candidate statement explaining their qualifications. (For a full listing of rules and requirements, view the agenda packet.)
PostedByBeau Saunders
on Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 11:44 AM
Beau Saunders
Tim Canning relocates a fern during trail maintenance day in Arcata Community Forest.
Early Saturday morning, volunteers gathered in Arcata Community Forest for a trail building work day.
Organized through a partnership between the city of Arcata and the Humboldt Trails Council, 25 volunteers spent the morning working on a section of Trail 4, which was recently rerouted to avoid a steep and slippery section of trail.
Dennis Houghton, parks facilities natural resources supervisor for the city, was directing the transplanting of more than 30 ferns, aided by Rees Huges, a volunteer coordinator of the Arcata Community Forest Trail Stewards (and sometimes Journal contributor).
“When we first started four years ago, we had seven or eight people showing up, and now we have a 25 person core group, which has been really good,” Houghton said. “Bottom line is each and every event is open to all, and we encourage people to come and help out. We’ve been partnering with [Humboldt State University], Arcata High School, and the local Boy Scout and Girl Scout Clubs, all helping make this forest accessible and safe to enjoy.”
By the end of the day, more than 100 yards of old trail had been filled with ferns, fallen logs, branches and forest duff and was clearly no longer a path for the bikers, hikers and equestrians who use the forest. David Guyer, a volunteer at the event, said, “I’ve recently moved back to the area after 20 years, and it’s one of the highlights of my week to come out make a good effort. Replanting ferns today was really fantastic.”
The Arcata Community Forest Trail Stewards meet at 9 a.m. on the fourth Saturday of every month (excluding December), and welcome volunteers to come help out.
Beau Saunders
(Left to right) Gary Friedrichsen, John Sullivan, George Nickerson and Orleen Smukler pass limbs down the slope to mix in with replanted ferns.
Beau Saunders
City of Arcata Parks, Facilities and Natural Resources Supervisor Dennis Houghton.
Beau Saunders
Arcata Community Forest Trail Stewards Coordinator Rees Hughes.
Beau Saunders
Dennis Houghton directs Naomi Winger, John Cortenbach, Rees Hughes, Alex Orozio, Zachary Matthews, Dan Calderwood and Joshua Sears as they move a fallen tree to block access to the discontinued trail.
Busy week? We get it. Here are some highlights from this week's cover story, “Last Night at Roy's,” to get you caught up.
If you noticed the smell of garlic and the glow of neon missing from D Street in Old Town, it's because Roy's Club Italian Restaurant has finally closed, ending the Fanucchi family's 98-year run. For our cover story "Last Night at Roy's," we pulled up a barstool for the long goodbyes and soaked up the stories of gangsters and bootleggers as family, friends and patrons gathered for a last supper.
Here are five takeaways (and a bonus challenge) from our farewell to the speakeasy-turned-landmark.
A tiny fly using its long mouth parts to gather nectar from a pussy willow.
It was sunny when I went to get my hiking boots but by the time I got dressed and out the door, it was 49 degrees and drizzling. I went anyway. The path down to the river was dark, the only sounds were the gentle “pok, pok” of water dripping from branches. The burning in my fingertips told me it was too cold for insects to be servicing the barely open Indian plum flowers. Down on the flood scrubbed river bar were scant traces of life.
Anthony Westkamper
A bumblebee on a pussy willow branch.
Near the end of the trail, out in the open, something buzzed furiously around me three or four times then headed off. From the quick glimpse I got I knew it was a bumblebee. It headed for a big pussy-willow about 50 meters upstream. Against the subdued damp earth tones of the river bank, dark overcast sky and somber evergreens, the yellow green of their catkins stood in sharp contrast, beckoning nectar and pollen feeders.
Anthony Westkamper
A teensy wasp gets in on the pollinating.
It was busy despite the cold. Insects were there in numbers. I started taking pictures and realized except for a couple of tiny bees they were all flies of one sort or another. Members of the order Diptera they are unique among the orders of insects in having only two wings instead of four. In my opinion it is the most diverse order. They fill the same niches as most of the other orders from parasites and hunters to, in this case, nectar feeders, which provide pollination services to a great many flowering plants. My college entomology professor did his thesis on pollinators of the wildflower Clarkia. To everyone's surprise, the majority of insects to visit the flowers he monitored were various species of flies. It may be true for willows as well.
A 32-year-old pedestrian was killed Saturday afternoon when he reportedly tried to run across U.S. Highway 101 near Garberville and was hit by a Subaru.
Shortly after 1 p.m., Travis Rothwell, of Garberville, ran from the east across U.S. 101 and directly in front of a northbound 2001 Subaru Outback driven by a 20-year-old from Arcata. Rothwell died at the scene.
“Alcohol and or drug impairment is under investigation as a factor in this collision,” the California Highway Patrol stated in a press release.
If you read a Breitbart News story earlier this month about the Klamath River, you’d be excused for thinking those of us who live along the river are doomed to die in watery graves as soon as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history is complete.
You’d also be very wrong, both for taking a Breitbart story at face value and for thinking dam removal will have any substantial impact on flooding along the Klamath River.
Every year voters receive a small booklet of information that includes a list of candidates, descriptions of upcoming ballot measures and arguments for and against. Most of us give those arguments – 300 words each of pros, cons and one rebuttal apiece – little thought. But most of us aren’t Scotty McClure, a board trustee for the Southern Humboldt Unified School District, vocal Donald Trump supporter, anti-taxxer and civic enthusiast.
When the opportunity arose for residents in the Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District to weigh in on Measure W – a special election measure that would create a $170 a year parcel tax within the district’s boundaries, McClure jumped at the opportunity. He labored over his con statement, grudgingly complying with requests it be edited for length. When given the opportunity to answer the pro-measure W’s rebuttal, he shot back with a succinct opinion that couldn't be edited for length: “Insert fart smell here.”
PostedByKimberly Wear
on Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 1:11 PM
Beau Saunders
Huffman pledges to fight at his town hall in Arcata on Thursday.
There were no shouting matches, angry jeers, seas of protest signs or calls for his ouster in 2018. Unlike the rancorous town halls some members of Congress are facing across the nation, North Coast Representative Jared Huffman’s meeting in Arcata was a rather friendly affair, often punctuated by bursts of applause, cheers and even laughter at his pithy jabs at the new administration.
“I’m very clear-eyed about what is going on in our county and I know my job is to fight,” Huffman said to loud cheers during his introductory remarks, in which he called for a respectful and positive exchange of views.
He noted that one woman who was a supporter of President Donald Trump had contacted his office to ask whether she would be safe attending the meeting, which drew a few chuckles from the crowd.
Huffman emphasized that “whether you are a Trump supporter or a resister, I want to have a conversation with you and have it be productive.”
Beau Saunders
More than 1,000 people turned out for the town hall, which had to be moved to a larger venue after Huffman's office received a flood of RSVPs.
That’s not to say there weren’t a few pointed questions from the mixed generation crowd of more than 1,000 that packed the bleachers of the Arcata High School gym, with the spillover of attendees finding a space to sit on the floor or lining up along the edges of the walls. This for a meeting called with about 48 hours' notice.
Humboldt County Fair Association General Manager Richard Conway issued a statement today in response to questions about a legal settlement the association paid to the Ferndale Enterprise, covered in this week's Journal.
In his statement, Conway blames the HCFA's failure last April to provide Titus with a document requested under the California Public Records Act on an "oversight" made because the association had already sent a "multitude" of other documents. Conway says once the error was realized, the association immediately provided Titus with the documents. He accuses Titus of intending to "inflict hardship upon the fair" by suing the HCFA despite having received the documents in question.
Titus and her lawyer, Paul Nicholas Boylan, dispute this interpretation of events. Titus says she asked for the fair's 2015 Statement of Operations twice before stating that she would "seek judicial remedy."