Money is often on the minds of the Yurok Indians, but that’s usually because there isn’t enough of it to go around. In addition to being California’s largest tribe, it is also one of the state’s poorest. And with the tribe’s natural resources, once abundant, now facing an uncertain future, the Yurok can’t just wait […]
Japhet Weeks
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Upward Bound No More
When the noon whistle goes off in Arcata, most people just think it’s time for lunch. But for James Frasche-Russell, a 26-year-old army veteran majoring in computer science and math at Humboldt State University, the whistle brings back bad memories. "It really freaked me out, because that was the get-into-your-bunkers-we’re-being-bombed alarm in Iraq," he says. […]
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Does LSD Kill?
Martin Cotton, the 26-year-old man who died in police custody on Aug. 9 in Eureka, may find himself a permanent resting place in the annals of a medical journal somewhere. Ken Falconer, the doctor who performed Cotton’s autopsy, said on Monday that he and Humboldt County Coroner Frank Jager have not quite worked out the […]
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‘A Broken Vessel’ — Who was Martin Cotton, and what happened to him?
Martin Frederick Cotton II was not homeless. The 26-year-old man, who died in the Humboldt County Jail on Aug. 9 shortly after a violent confrontation with the Eureka police, always knew that if he was in trouble, the only thing between him and shelter was a call to his father, Martin Fredrick Cotton, who lives […]
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West End Story — An unlikely union between experimental artists and the City of Eureka
The formula was simple: Empire Squared plus The Placebo plus Synapsis equals a flowering of experimental performing arts in Eureka’s West End. Turns out, the equation was missing only one thing — a permit. In December of last year, the City of Eureka ordered the performing arts collective Synapsis to close its doors to public […]
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Mala Fortuna — What happened to Mex City Auto Detailing?
Fortuna doesn’t always live up to its nickname, “The Friendly City.” In part, that’s because of the way some Fortunans seem to be reacting to demographic upheaval in the area, as the local Latino population balloons. And though many are happy about the city’s changing dynamic, some find it difficult to accept the transformation. One […]
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Last Cowboy Standing — A tale of rodeo culture in Humboldt County
For the rodeo cowboy, speed is everything. A couple of weeks ago, a handful of cowboys gathered at a private arena in Redcrest off the Avenue of the Giants, on a patch of land situated between a forest of tall redwoods and the Eel River. They were there to practice for the upcoming Orick rodeo. […]
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The secret life of cheese
Earlier this month, Cypress Grove registered a 10 on the local gourmet Richter scale after its new cheese, Truffle Tremor, won top honors at the International Fancy Food & Confection Show in New York City. I decided to write an article about the secret life of chèvre. The story was to be a hard-hitting (well, […]
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Lady Bird
The passing of Lady Bird Johnson, the widow of President Lyndon B. Johnson, has garnered much press in the past week. A passionate conservationist and beautifier of America’s highways, Mrs. Johnson is better known locally for the grove that was dedicated in her name in August 1969 in Redwood National Park, a spot which Amy […]
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Stick game — Is the Klamath River headed for disaster, again?
The water in the Klamath is just right for swimming. That is, unless you’re a salmon, in which case it may be the perfect temperature for another fish kill. At least that’s what Keith Parker of the Yurok Tribe is saying. Parker sent out an e-mail alert last week in which he reported that the […]
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The Klamath knot:
This summer is already proving to be another difficult one in the Klamath Basin, both on and off the river. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a warning about dangerously high levels of toxic algae blooming on the Klamath River in Iron Gate and Copco reservoirs. And the Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team — […]