Some 2,700 firefighters from around the state, including the Humboldt County Strike Team, are battling the Pawnee Fire burning north of the Lake County community of Clearlake Oaks, which as of this morning was 25 percent contained with 13,500 acres burned, according to Calfire. To date, 22 structures have been destroyed in the fire that […]
Kym Kemp
Kym Kemp is the editor and publisher of the news website Redheaded Blackbelt at www.kymkemp.com.
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Visitors Bureau Takes Cannabis Fact Finding Tour
As the Eureka-Humboldt Visitors Bureau’s board of directors continues to contemplate its future cannabis efforts, some of its members recently took a tour with the aim of discerning whether the plant might one day be able to mingle among our redwoods, coastline, food, wine and Victorians in the agency’s marketing efforts. As the Journal reported […]
Posted inNews
‘Highway Robbery:’ Drivers Allege Rohnert Park Police Illegally Seized Cannabis, Cash
Huedell Freeman was heading south on U.S. Highway 101 through Cloverdale and was just over the Sonoma County line when he said a police squad car flipped a U-turn across a 25-foot grass median and pulled up behind him with lights flashing. Freeman said he was carrying 47 pounds of marijuana in his rental car […]
Posted inNews
UPDATE: Police Arrest Previously Barricaded Subject in Fortuna
FIFTH UPDATE: According to a Fortuna Police Department release (see below), Eureka resident Melvin Matthews, 35, was wanted on felony warrants for evading law enforcement and making threats against a police officer, grand theft and possession of a stolen vehicle. He surrendered to the Humboldt County SWAT team after a three-hour standoff. FOURTH UPDATE: The […]
Posted inNews
UPDATE: Man Killed in 101 Crash, Passenger Injured, Dog Unharmed
UPDATE: A man driving a Honda SUV at high speeds died today after the vehicle went off U.S. Highway 101 near Stone Lagoon, overturned and hit a tree. His passenger received minor injuries and a dog in the car was unharmed. The name of the man has not been released pending notification of next of […]
Posted inNews
UPDATE: SoHum Murder Suspect Arrested in Eureka
UPDATE: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reports murder suspect Zach Harrison is being held on $1 million bail after being arrested by the Eureka Police Department this afternoon. The EPD received a tip on his whereabouts at 1:17 p.m. and took him into custody 11 minutes later while he was walking in the back parking […]
Posted inNews
A Halo Over Fortuna
Fortuna received an especially spectacular sky show – a solar halo – this afternoon (June 5). A solar halo is “caused by high, thin cirrus clouds drifting high above your head,” according to EarthSky, a science news site. “Tiny ice crystals in Earth’s atmosphere create the halos. They do it by refracting and reflecting the light. […]
Posted inNews
Tree Fire Closes 199 Near Crescent City
Editor’s note: This report first appeared on www.kymkemp.com and is reposted here with permission. A fire burning in a tree northeast of Crescent City forced the closure of Highway 199 this morning. The tree was reported to be on fire about 8:09 a.m., according to the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page. The tree is reportedly leaning […]
Posted inNews
Huffman Visits Cannabis Farm, Hears About Concerns
Editor’s note: This story first appeared on www.kymkemp.com and is reposted here with permission. With pot prices plummeting, it can sometimes feel as if Humboldt’s economic sky is falling. But on a federal level, the interest in easing restrictions on ganja is growing. North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman visited a smaller-sized cannabis farm Friday in what […]
Posted inNews
Cannabis-Related Lights Polluting SoHum Skies
Editor’s note: This story first appeared on www.kymkemp.com and is reposted here with permission. Once again spring brings light to the hills of the Emerald Counties — large industrial lights that flood valleys, glow into neighbors’ windows and possibly confuse wildlife, disrupting natural cycles. Rural communities complain that greenhouses constructed specifically for growing marijuana bring unwanted […]
Posted inNews
SoHum Turns Out to Talk Roads, Abandoned Vehicles at Budget Meeting
By 6 p.m. yesterday, the overflow audience at the southern version of the Humboldt County Budget Roadshow meeting at the historic Benbow Inn just south of Garberville clogged the doorway and lined the walls. By the end of the event, a long swath of paper covered with suggestions spread across the front wall of the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Mending the Mateel
When the counterculture — the barefoot, longhaired back-to-the-landers — poured into the hills and valleys of the Mattole and the Eel River watersheds in the 1970s, they needed a gathering place to enfold their new community. At first, they fixed up an old building in Garberville, the Fireman’s Hall, but when that burned down in […]