Low Fat Makes You Fat. Bad Cholesterol — a Myth. Peanuts Cut Diabetes Risk, Hunger. It turns out magazine headlines like these are all true. But in case you don’t trust the reading material at the supermarket, how about the New York Times March 17, 2014: “Study Questions Fat and Heart Disease Link.” The article […]
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Posted inLetters + Opinion
Politics, Hunting – Both Sports
For those of us who love the sport of politics, let me be the first to say, “Wow, Eureka!” Who says your vote doesn’t count?! In 33 years of reporting (or closely watching the reporting of others) I cannot recall election night prelim results being reversed. Last week, after all those straggling ballots were counted, […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Prepping for Midterms
Midterm elections are such a yawn, right? Well, this one actually has a few hot-button issues you may care about. GMOs and $12 an hour for hamburger flippers? I was taught in journalism school that newspapers should have an opinion about the news they cover. In Humboldt County that means pissing off half your readers […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Growth, Change
I’ve been shedding job titles since 2003. The first one was hard to give up — the title of editor. Later, we hired a sales manager and transferred those duties. When I turned 62, five years ago, I started to work part time, mostly supervising department managers two days a week. Our company and staff […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
The Supes: A Retrospective
Letter-writer Leo Sears reminded Journal and Times-Standard readers last week that in 2012, in this opinion column, I gave “kudos to [4th District Supervisor Virginia] Bass for chairing an emotional discussion, keeping everyone civil, and for finding a solution — a way forward” as chair of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. The agenda item […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Bay [T]rail Update No. 9 + CCT
I have a new favorite book. Well, it’s not that new and it’s not a real book. I just discovered online the 170-page report called “Humboldt County Coastal Trail Implementation Strategy,” published in January 2011. It’s about the dream of being able to transport yourself, sans car, along the California Coastal Trail in Humboldt County […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
I’m Still Worried
This week’s cover story is a scholarly write-up by Journal News Editor Thadeus Greenson about the General Plan Update process — and how money may or may not influence decisions. He started with a public records act request to county supervisors for emails during a specific time period last year when they were changing the […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Monday, March 10, 1:30 p.m. — Enough!
As I wrote in this column last week, I’ve been having flashbacks. I started as a reporter for the Arcata Union in 1981 covering the perennially contentious Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, my favorite assignment. Once in a while, the county planning commission beat overlapped, too, and, always, politics. After 33 years, I’m mostly retired, […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Transition
In June of this year, staff writer Ryan Burns was promoted to news editor and Jennifer Fumiko Cahill joined the editorial team as arts and features editor. (Veteran Arts and Entertainment Editor Bob Doran suffered a stroke in May and is still recovering.) Both Ryan and Jenn have done a wonderful job since Journal Editor […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Straw-vote Gang of Four
Forget it, Humboldt County. Since Estelle Fennell and Rex Bohn were seated on the Board of Supervisors last year, joining Virginia Bass and Ryan Sundberg — all elected with the help of the same deep pockets of money — the direction of good planning and land use in this county has gone from first-gear forward […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Bay Trail Update No. 8
“You must be ecstatic,” said my friend as I sat down for lunch last Friday. It was the day after the California Coastal Commission approved Caltrans’ Eureka-Arcata Route 101 Corridor Improvement Project — 13 years in the making. Yes, I am. And so are a few hundred other people I know and — exponentially — […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Bay Trail Update No. 7
What a wild roller coaster ride this past week for those of us who support the Bay Trail, a proposed bicycle-and-pedestrian path along the bay between Arcata and Eureka. First, the Arcata City Council changed its position on the Caltrans 101 Safety Corridor Project, which comes before the California Coastal Commission in Eureka Thursday, from […]