Determined thieves may have ruined Christmas for some little girls and boys this year. Dale Bridges, the paymaster for Toys for Tots, reports that the flashing signs his organization rented to encourage donations have been vandalized twice, with four industrial batteries having been removed, cables cut and a tire deliberately punctured. He estimates the financial […]
Linda Stansberry
Linda Stansberry was a staff writer of the North Coast Journal from 2015 to 2018. She is a frequent contributor the the Journal and our other publications.
Posted inNews
Humboldt Hits Grim Mark: Suicides at Five Year Peak
The recent death of a 30-year-old man from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head brings the county to 40 suicides in 2015, its highest mark in five years, surpassing its 2012 total of 37, according to numbers from the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office. It also places Humboldt County at nearly three times the California […]
Posted inNews
Make Money off Your Problems
Did your booboo leave you and take the dehumidifier you went 50-50 on? Want to get your deposit back from Floyd Squires? Fugly haircut got you down? Take your problems to Southern California, to court and to the bank. Okay, it’s not going to be an actual court, with an actual judge. It’s going to […]
Posted inNews
To Seal and Destroy
When Elise Gerhart chose to attend local businessman Rob Arkley’s 2013 forum on homelessness, she knew that she might go to jail. Gerhart, then a Humboldt State University student, had been arrested by the Eureka Police Department during protests before. The arrest on Sept. 18, 2013 was no different — she was handcuffed, booked and […]
Posted inNews
PalCo Marsh Update
Two nights of battering storms had given way to a clear Wednesday morning when Erin Powers-Taylor and Kim Bergel met in the north parking lot of the Bayshore Mall. Powers-Taylor, a volunteer with the Friends of the Marsh Group, which serves a free meal for the marsh homeless every Friday, handed Bergel, a Eureka City […]
Posted inNews
Brand Watch: The Myth of the Sleazy Car Salesman
The unshaven man leers from behind the high lapels of his trenchcoat, his fingers tented as though to shield a cigarette from the wind. Beside him the neon winks, letters in a loopy vintage font: Bob’s Fine Cars. The owner of Bob’s Fine Cars, Bob Crivello, says the logo has been the source of confusion […]
Posted inNews
Dogs Dosed By Junkie Poop? Naaaah. Well, Maybe.
A few weeks ago, while scrolling through Facebook to research our article on digilantism, we ran across a passionate comment from a Hammond Trail hiker whose pup had been “poisoned” by eating human poop. “Later that afternoon my dog almost died. Vet took samples of what my dog threw up and her diarrhea…Found mushrooms and […]
Posted inNews
Names Released in Recent Road Deaths, Heavy Fog a Factor
Heavy fog is being blamed for the death of a 43-year old McKinleyville woman, Cassandra Rogers, who was crossing U.S. Highway 101 northbound on foot when she was struck by a vehicle driven by Dorvin Valgene Phillips, 80, also of McKinleyville. Rogers was wearing dark clothing and apparently went unseen by Phillips until it was […]
Posted inNews
Welcome to Humboldt: New DHHS Director Says She’s “Excited”
The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors announced this week that it’s made a hire to head the county’s largest department, the much-beleaguered Department of Health and Human Services. Kristin Brinks, currently the deputy director of Community Services for the El Dorado County Health and Human Services Agency, will take the reins from Phillip Crandall in […]
Posted inNews
Red Panda Escaped from the Zoo
Masala, a young red panda, is missing from the Sequoia Park Zoo and thought to be in the Sequoia Park forest. City staff and the Eureka Police Department are searching for her. Gretchen Ziegler, zoo manager, said staff got a report late this afternoon from “someone in the community that they saw a red panda […]
Posted inNews
Strays
On the morning of the puppy rescue, Shannon Townsend gets unwelcome news: The veterinarian is not coming. Townsend says a few unhappy words into the phone, takes a deep breath and puts her van, which smells of dog and bleach and patchouli, in gear. We are headed east toward Hoopa, where the “neuter scooter” was […]
Posted inNews
Two Recent Vehicle Fatalities Bring Humboldt’s 2015 Road Deaths to 27
A fatal crash on Saturday and another yesterday morning bring the year’s total road deaths up to 27. As reported in our September cover story, Humboldt County has one of the highest rates of vehicle fatalities in the nation and this year is on pace to break previous records for road deaths. Saturday’s crash occurred as […]