Editor: The North Coast Journal‘s little joke on the Arcata City Council was a good one (“Pretty War Horses,” July 30). While I appreciate the expectation that people ought to be able to distinguish between fact and farce, I’ve heard that the “article” on the Council’s decision to ban Arcata residents from attending the Lipizzaner […]
Letters + Opinion
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Gone Viral
Is State Sen. Pat Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) our first local YouTube-era superstar? Several of our neighbors have tried to claw their way into Internet celebrity — brazen dope growers, Jackass-style pranksters, self-obsessed video diarists — but it appears that all of them have lacked some essential element. Maybe they were trying too hard. Because last […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
See Ya, Sister
Editor: I keep thinking next time someone feels the need to demonize Arcata that I won’t be surprised … but, here I am, surprised again (“Escape from Arcata,” Aug. 7). Dennis Handy sounds suspiciously like someone who’s undergoing a bitter divorce and feels the need to prove the other guy wrong. I suspect him of […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Stats Geek Let Down
Editor: I was like a kid in a candy store when I saw your local statistics (“Who’s Your City,” Aug. 7). As a professional economist and entrepreneur I live and die by numbers, estimations, trends and logic. I was thrilled to see a local publication utilizing graphs and sourced numbers. I was disappointed that you […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Fascists!
Editor: Thank you for publishing Shane C. Brinton’s review of Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Aug. 7). The most important point Brinton makes is at the very end: “Klein hasn’t discovered something new so much as she has explained how a very old strategy is manifesting itself in even more atrocious […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Where There’s Smoke
An old joke in journalism goes this way: A cub reporter comes back from a city council meeting and tells her editor there was no story. “What happened?” the editor asks. “It was canceled,” the reporter says. “City Hall burned down.” How big a newspaper plays a story should depend on how important a story […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Portapalooza
All’s been quiet on the railroad for a few months. The old Northwestern Pacific line, that dead set of tracks from Humboldt County to the Bay Area, has been as quiet and trainless this summer as it has for the last 10 years. Strangely, though, even debate about the railroad seems to have gone on […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Clear Signals
Editor: Your KHSU story was a terrific piece of journalism that looked beneath the surface narrative — university bureaucrats trying to stifle political expression — to reveal a much deeper story of competing perspectives and complex personalities (“Station Identification,” July 31). You showed that Democracy Now! is safe, and you pointed readers toward the issues […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Thanks for KHSU story
Editor: I want to express my appreciation for your very thorough report on what has become a very complex and (of course) controversial issue in the community. “Station Identification” ( July 31) went beyond the surface and contemporary state of affairs to probe the larger context in which decisions on programming, fiscal matters and personnel […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
KHSU deserves better
Editor: That the university’s creature has turned around to bite it involves all sorts of delicious irony. (“Station Identification,” July 31). When Elizabeth Hans McCrone was pushed from her perch in Advancement, she needed a new place to roost. KHSU turned out to be the unlucky nest for this bird. As some may recall, KHSU […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Keep KHSU alternative, independent
Editor: Thanks for your article regarding the recent situation at KHSU. (“Station Identification,” July 31). While there are many disturbing aspects, the most disturbing is that a mid-level bureaucrat and the university president are wanting to make program and other policy for the community-sponsored station. The whole reason we have “alternative, independent” radio is so […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Horseplay
Editor: When I picked up the current issue of the North Coast Journal yesterday and read the boxed article about the Arcata City Council voting to prohibit Arcata residents from seeing the Lipizzaner stallion show at Redwood Acres, I was incredulous. (“Pretty War Horses,” July 31). It seemed like it must be a joke, but […]