On the stand last week, Pamela Olsen, co-owner with her husband of a small coffee roasting company called Bayside Roasters, cried when she recounted the feelings she had gone through in November and December of 2005. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving of that year, she got a call from one of her customers telling her […]
Hank Sims
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Hanging on the telephone
Let it not be said that there is no good coming out of the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy hearings currently underway in Corpus Christi, Texas. Yes, severance packages for laid-off employees have been frozen. Yes, around 3,000 people or business entities, a good number of them local, have been stiffed out of money owed them by […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
The Wooden Stake
Enron. Halliburton. Kellogg, Brown & Root. These hallowed, historical names occupy the very highest rank in the annals of Texas industry and commerce. Whether helping to throw elections for Lyndon Johnson, putting their CEO (Dick Cheney) in the White House or simply ripping off investors and out-of-state electricity buyers on a magnificent scale, these are […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Armistice Day
Hardly anyone seems to be paying much attention, but these are re-markable times in Humboldt County. For at least the last 17 years – maybe more like 40 years – there’s been one single overarching theme in our small, isolated, island-like society, and that’s been the fact that the hippies and the rednecks have always […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Ozymandias
There’s no real news to report for the moment, so maybe now is a good time to catch our breaths and ponder a couple of the lingering questions relating to the Pacific LumberChapter 11 bankruptcy case, which was filed the week before last in Corpus Christi, Texas. As we wrote last week, there was a […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
From Houston to Port Louis
Well, no one can say they didn’t see it coming. The only question now is who gets screwed the hardest. Workers? Subcontractors? Bondholders? Taxpayers? We’ll still be debating the matter years from now, no doubt. But first, note one of the more curious aspects of the omnibus Pacific Lumberbankruptcy, which was finally announced, after years […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Babylon System
A couple of months ago, when controversial reggae artist Buju Banton was about to perform at the Mateel Community Center, KMUD radio aired an absolutely remarkable hour of radio on its regular Friday morning talk show, "Thank Jah It’s Friday." The show aired at a moment when it was unclear whether or not the show […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Preaching Impeachment
Eight senior citizens and one adorable little girl stormed the Eureka offices of Congressman Mike Thompson last Wednesday at noon, lending their voices to a nationwide day of protest aimed at fomenting impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush. It was a cold, wet, blustery day. After several hours of silent protest outside the office […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Roger and out
Supervisor Roger Rodoni was creaky and hoarse when he made his last stand at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning – at least that’s the way he appeared on television – but flu or not, the old cowboy did manage to unleash a customarily acerbic defense while his colleagues held his head under the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Telling Tales
Once again, dear reader, that vast gulf that separates today from tomorrow intrudes upon our weekly communion. What we want to talk about is what happened (what will happen) Tuesday night, when the Eureka City Council meets to consider Mayor Virginia Bass‘ appointment to fill the vacant, tie-breaking Second Ward seat. But you already know […]