It’s been a year of yikes, folks. Humboldt had far more bad looks and petty deeds in 2025 than a brief list can contain, but these are the selfish choices and low blows that really sprang out at us.
10. Painting hanging figures in Eureka. The graffiti that showed up on downtown buildings (and over murals) Sept. 19 depicted hanging black figures in suits holding flowers, some with anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist messages. The most generous interpretation is that the vandal(s), meant to invoke a common trope in protest art in other countries. But like salad at the end of a meal, not all customs make sense here. Because in a country with a history of lynching Black people and a current surge in racial violence, for many it understandably came off as a threat. Banksy? More like Dicksy.
9. Crossword sabotage. Dave Brown, the most relentlessly positive person in the Journal’s production department, has ironically campaigned for the last year to be on the Dick Moves list. None of us thought he had it in him — until the Oct. 9 issue hit stands. Calls and emails came in demanding the clue to 59 Down in the week’s crossword puzzle. Who would leave a county of puzzlers unable to fill in the last three squares, to feel the momentary peace of something finally making sense in a chaotic world? Hint: It’s a four-letter word that starts with D. (Answer: Dave.)
8. Stealing Special Olympics equipment. The first dick move of the year is always special but this was a little on the nose. On Jan. 3, a thief broke into a storage unit with bolt cutters and boosted first aid kits, tents and sports equipment for the local Special Olympics. Even the torch. The stolen stuff was retrieved but nobody can take away the culprit’s rightful spot on the podium with a gold medal in the dick-athalon.
7. Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department posting about people losing SNAP benefits. While our community was throwing itself into donating and volunteering to help keep those in need from going hungry, HCSD responded with a preemptive pud take on Facebook. It read: “Effective Nov 1., if the government shutdown continues, many members of our community may have their benefits indefinitely delayed. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is ready to respond to any calls for service involving theft or looting.” HCSD followed up with a request that we narc on hungry neighbors upon seeing “anything suspicious” and ended with a tone-deaf “#Benefits.” Swift blowback led to removal of the post in about 20 minutes and an apology, but the Inspector Javert from Les Misérables vibes remain. They put the “jerk” in their knee-jerk response to “community members” in need instead of offering aid. Utter schlongery.
6. Vandalizing Pride banners at the United Congregational Christian Church. We get it, you have a lot of big feelings. Something about the LGBTQ+ banners — too much color? — gets you emotional. Instead of taking a walk, asking for a hug, eating a nutritious snack, having a good cry, or sitting down to think about why you are so obsessed with people you don’t even know, you tear up the signs reading, “A Just World for All,” like a toddler. Assuming much-needed therapy is out of the question, maybe take that energy to an invasive plant removal workday and pull up some ivy or Scotch broom. It would turn just as many people straight and you could contribute something positive instead of another turgid tantrum.
5. Non-Black people getting way too comfortable with the N-word. This includes kids saying it on the football field and a Ferndale teacher saying it in class (ironically, while making a point about racism). In October, Arcata High School’s principal Kristin Ferderber sent out an apology for repeating the slur in front of students after someone hurled it at a football game. Students held a walk-out protesting her use of the word and for the apology itself, which showed up as AI generated when analyzed. A dick move within a dick move, like dick Inception (dick-ception?), really, because there’s more. In coverage on Redheaded Blackbelt, the N-word appears quoted in full, which is no longer the convention. AP Style demands a “compelling” reason to spell it out, which, as you can see from how readily understandable this paragraph is, there isn’t. It’s not necessary to convey the seriousness and it’s not 1993. Non-Black people, you are not in a Quentin Tarantino movie and there is no reason at all we need to say it, with or without the hard R. Everyone knows it’s a dick move with a hard D.
4. Hanging county employees out to dry. When local blogger John Chiv learned he’d accidentally received the un-redacted names of employees connected to the complaints made against Humboldt County Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, he could have taken those names down. Burning possible whistleblowers would be bad form for a journalist (not to mention the chilling effect on those considering coming forward about wrongdoing), but it’s nothing new for stream of consciousness grievance blogger and run-on enthusiast Chiv, who’s made this list before for his relaxed attitude about making the names of minors involved in court cases public. But under a 31-word headline, he garnished this dick move by writing of those named, “By them running to the County management like whiners and asking me to remove their names; they are the ones who have created stress for themselves.” A cherry on top of the banana split right there.
3. Going off on your coworkers. And that takes us to Bushnell’s censure, following an outside investigation, for hostile behavior toward staff (including yelling, cussing out staffers and slamming a door). And because we’re apparently playing dick move dominoes, this was followed by similar allegations and an outside investigation of fellow supervisor Rex Bohn. His email response to the letter informing him of the investigation and asking him not to speak to anyone but the investigator about it said, “I will not be participating to save the County Money, Thanks Rex.” (Narrator: It will likely not save the county money.) Then he made a Chiv move and told the Lost Coast Outpost who he believed made the complaint. Please see above suggestions for handling big feelings and avoiding dicky meltdowns.
2. Posting and sharing the footage of a fatal crash. When a speeding stolen van crashed and caught fire, killing the driver and injuring others, it was a harrowing scene. Photos of the wreckage were nightmare inspiration enough, but KRCR News Channel 7 shared footage of the crash and the van on fire with the driver inside. While not everyone enjoys a snuff film, it was widely viewed and shared by people one assumes did not know the actual human being whose life ended horribly. It was lurid, sensational and without any news value. The only thing we learned was who’s up for a ghoulish dick move.
1. Killing a fucking condor. Sounds like something a trophy-hunting Trump son would pull but this was less direct. Once again, some absolute knob went hunting with the lead ammunition California banned back in 2019. And just like everyone who hunts knows, the lead contaminates any carcass left behind to poison other wildlife. In this case, it was 18-month-old male B7, aka Pey-noh-pey-o-wok’ (Yurok for “I am friend or kind or good natured”), who ingested the toxic shot and died in March. The revival of this species, their ecological and cultural significance, and the tireless efforts of the Yurok Tribe to bring them back from the brink of extinction compound the loss of a rare creature that had only been flying free for three months. That it was so easily avoidable also earns this shit-tracking nimrod the top spot among this year’s dick moves.
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the managing editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400 ext. 106, or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky @jfumikocahill.bsky.social.
This article appears in Top 10 Stories of 2025.